Blood Bond
by jessara40k
Summary: What if there was a reason youkai killed all hanyous, other than blood purity?
1. Chapter 1

J R1 Sesshomaru woke slowly. The last thing he remembered was Naraku nearly killing him, and leaving him for dead, at least he thought Naraku had left him. His only comfort had been the knowledge that he'd bought time for Jaken to take Rin far away from the battle, to take his human cub to his hated hanyou brother, Inuyasha.

He wasn't hurting, that was his first thought, not even the distant ache he'd become accustomed to in his lost arm. And he felt a strange presence in part of his mind, along with a sense of restriction. 'Please kami, not Naraku. He can't have learned how to bond youkai, he's too powerful, and with too many serving him already.' He quickly wove another strand into his glamour, hiding the submissive scent markers, as well as the ones which said whether or not he was in heat, specifically feminine scent markers – his glamour had probably been the only reason Naraku hadn't raped him as well as tortured him. Very few youkai could resist a female youkai in heat; some even had trouble resisting human females in heat.

He forced himself to calm, forced his incipient panic away to assess the situation. There were people moving around him, but that only meant whoever owned him had companions, and they'd set up camp. But he could feel a small hand petting his tail, a familiar hand, Rin, and when he cautiously sniffed the air he could smell his brother, and the Miko. He opened his eyes and pushed himself up on one elbow, noting absently that they'd had the kindness to put him on his side to rest, albeit in a strange position, not on his back, exposing his throat and underbelly.

"This Sesshomaru is…grateful for your assistance, but how did you know to come to my aid?" He forced himself to act as if the restriction he sensed was not in place, to act like his normal, arrogant self – or rather to act as his father would have. He didn't really know what he would be like if he didn't have to put up a front. If he was lucky his brother wouldn't know what feeding a hanyou's blood to a full youkai could do, or the Miko wouldn't realise that healing him like that had put him in her power if it was her doing.

"Rin told us you were in trouble. Jaken said you'd sent them away to protect her, so we left them with Shippo and Miroku while we came to look for you." Kagome was the one who explained – his hanyou brother was perched in a tree looking sulky, almost as if he hadn't wanted to help Sesshomaru. If Inuyasha had been forced to help his brother against his will, or it was Kagome's magic that had healed him it was looking more and more likely that Sesshomaru belonged to the Miko. He quickly controlled the fear he felt at the thought, Mikos were cruel, he knew that from personal experience, and he'd seen what Kagome did to his brother. 'But he was probably insolent, that or insulting – he might not even realise it if he belongs to her.'

"The last thing I, Sesshomaru, remember is fighting Naraku and being defeated, he 'played' with this Sesshomaru for a while, and then he left." He hinted for more information, without actually asking for it, because asking would show weakness, and it had been far too dangerous for him to show any weakness for the last sixty years – and he was already pushing the boundaries of what he could get away with already by taking in Rin, most demons would consider that a sign of weakness, to take in and protect a human pup. But she'd been abused, by the people who should have taken care of her, and it struck a chord in him, then her death, and his use of the Tensaiga to bring her back tied her to him.

"Feh! He'd just about killed you. But he ran off like the coward he is when he saw us." Inuyasha sounded scornful, contemptuous of his brother's failure to protect himself from the hanyou, but Naraku hadn't been alone.

"After your brother had killed the three demons with him." Kagome's words were almost like an echo of his thoughts. "Sesshomaru stayed and sacrificed himself to give Jaken time to get Rin to safety, the way you've sacrificed yourself to protect me, and the others." Sesshomaru flushed slightly, embarrassed to hear his actions painted in such a noble light, he hadn't seen them that way, but as the only thing he could do and he was immensely flattered to be compared to his brother positively, rather than being told that he wasn't as good as Inuyasha.

"Feh! I still wouldn't have needed someone to run him off for me." That was more like the sort of thing he'd learned to expect when his brother was involved – and he half thought it was true, he'd never actually won against his brother unless the hanyou wasn't in his right mind. Sesshomaru had been struggling to avoid acting submissively since he realised what had happened, he decided that a question would help distract them.

0

"How did you heal me so well?" Sesshomaru directed the question halfway between Kagome and Inuyasha, but it was Kagome who answered.

"I tried to heal you myself, but I couldn't, so Inuyasha gave you his blood." And she'd been feeling something strange in her head ever since, almost as if she was feeling someone else's emotions – two other people's emotions rather, she'd been feeling Inuyasha's emotions since she'd brought him back to himself after his youkai blood consumed his mind. The new emotions had to be Sesshomaru's, but they weren't what she'd expected – panic when he woke up, and fear when she'd answered his question, both quickly suppressed. Embarrassed and flattered when compared to his brother, resigned acceptance when Inuyasha put his achievements down. And now he seemed a little relieved, but it was tentative, and mixed with apprehension. Nothing that fitted with his projected image of a coldly confident, ruthless and calculating lord, but rather the reactions of someone who'd been told he was worthless so many times he'd begun to believe it. The youkai's eyes flicked immediately to his brother, who'd been sulking since she forced him to help his brother.

"I would not have expected that." Kagome could sympathise with that, the only reason she'd even thought to ask Inuyasha to help his brother was that she'd asked Myoga why he followed the hanyou a few days earlier, and learned about the healing properties of hanyou, and to a lesser extent youkai, blood. And then she'd had to almost order Inuyasha to give his blood – only the possibility that Sesshomaru would stop attacking him for Tetsusaiga (and Rin's pleading eyes) had prevented that. Kagome had learned that if she gave an order and pushed it along the link that let her sense the hanyou's feelings he had no choice but to obey, although she didn't know why, and she tried not to do that except in the most important things. She thought it was wrong, a sort of rape, and Inuyasha was much harder to deal with afterwards, but to save a life she would have gladly used it.

"Feh! The wench nagged at me until I agreed. She kept your worthless carcass intact while she did it too." And there was a flash of something strange from Sesshomaru; as if he half thought Inuyasha was right in his assessment of the Taiyoukai, mixed in with quickly suppressed fear. It didn't make much sense to her, and she didn't understand why Sesshomaru could ever believe Inuyasha's words, or why he denigrated hanyous so much if he felt that way, but that was what she could feel.

"I hoped you would be willing to swear not to attack Inuyasha for Tetsusaiga, and told him that, or he wouldn't have agreed."

Sesshomaru smiled at that, and Kagome could feel his relief, something that puzzled her, but she was ready enough to let it go.

"Then I, Sesshomaru swear by my honour and on our father's grave that this Sesshomaru will not try to take Tetsusaiga from Inuyasha. After I saw what being without it does to him I gave that up anyway. They have a lot to answer for." The last sentence was almost whispered, bitterly. But Inuyasha and even Kagome caught it.

"Who have a lot to answer for?" The two spoke simultaneously and Kagome felt a passing sense of amusement.

"The people who altered you when you were a child so you would have at least the potential to face most youkai in a straight fight. No other hanyou has ever been able to do that, they usually used their stronger magic to compensate. But you are the only hanyou who has ever been overwhelmed by his youkai blood, and I think that is the reason." Sesshomaru had begun petting Rin, reassuring her, shortly after he sat up, but he paused now. "I cannot tell you who they were; they put a gaes on me to prevent that."

Kagome started at that, and let her sight slip into the seeing/not-seeing that she used to observe magic, and recognised a foreign aura entwined with Sesshomaru's own, in two ways, one an external restraint, like the restraint Kaede's power on the prayer beads around Inuyasha's neck represented, and the other that had become integral to Sesshomaru's being, centred low on his body, where a womb would have been on a woman. And when she turned her eyes to Inuyasha she noted much more extensive intertwining of this strange power with his being, in different places, including parts centring around his nose, his eyes, his ears, and parts that weren't specifically centred anywhere. Both brothers also had a touch of Kagome's own power in their auras, but she didn't know whether that was connected to her own aura or not, as she had a blind spot around her own power.

"What else did they do to you?" Kagome knew her question was blunt, and rude, so it was a surprise to her when Sesshomaru answered.

"They made me into a hermaphrodite." He blushed, and bowed his head as he spoke. "I can both sire, and bear children – although I never have. It was their idea of a joke." Kagome recognised his embarrassment, would have even without the glimpse she got into his mind, and refrained from mentioning that she'd thought he was a girl at first, and for a miracle no one else said anything either.

0

Sesshomaru stood outside the Higurashi's shrine, carrying a bundle of clothes more fitting to his status than the skirt and blouse he wore now, reluctant to visit them for the first time, because this time he would have to see his master in her own time, and he was so scared that she'd only been pretending to be kind and gentle in his time, that here and now she would hurt him, abuse him the way he'd seen other Mikos abuse their youkai slaves. He knew there was no real basis for his fears – his master had given him so many gifts, including the ability to disguise himself almost totally as a woman when he needed to, at least after he'd given birth, and her claim had protected him from others who would try to enslave him, but still he was scared. Finally he shook his head and walked forwards, raising his hand to knock at the door – this was the only time he'd been specifically ordered to visit the shrine, and what to do while he was there, he had to obey.

"Mara! Please come in." Kagome's mother had opened the door to him, and greeted him with a smile. "We haven't seen you for a while." He'd been reluctant to visit in the last month he could pretend to be independent, and so he simply hadn't, he'd never considered that by doing so he'd denied his master's family the reassurance of knowing when she'd be back. He dropped his glamour, the illusion that made him appear human, once the door was shut behind him, enjoying the acceptance he'd won from the family. "I suppose this means Kagome won't be back for at least a day." He'd never visited less than a day before Kagome would be returning through the well, because Inuyasha might otherwise scent him when the hanyou came looking for her.

"Actually, she's due back today, in just over two hours time." Sesshomaru glanced down at the ground as he knelt on the floor in the living room. "Forgive me, but I need to change back to what I looked like in the Sengoku Jidai, so I am recognisable to my master, as she commanded me to do on this date."

"So she's already enslaved you back then?" There was a note of disapproval in the woman's voice and Sesshomaru winced, realising that he'd never told his master's family how she came to be his master, and her mother had never been happy about his status – although her grandfather had approved, strongly. The only reason he'd started to tolerate 'Mara' after he'd learned she was a demon was that Sesshomaru was careful to be submissive around his master's family, and made sure to show them that he knew his place.

"She saved my life; it wasn't her fault that she didn't know what the method she used would do to me. And when she found out that she owns me she was generous about it, and agreed to let me hide the fact until I had an heir." Sesshomaru smiled up at the lady, praying that she would accept his explanation, and that she wouldn't shout at her daughter. He'd liked her since his friend, Tomo met her, even if he had asked 'Mara' to marry him first, and they'd only become closer since he'd gone to the family to explain where Kagome had disappeared to the first time she went through the Bone-Eaters Well, and why, despite the fact that he'd refused to see her daughter, something Minako had understood once he'd explained his position, and her daughter's powers. "Please, is there somewhere I might go to change my clothing?"

"Use Kagome's room, it's not as if that should be a problem." Sesshomaru couldn't imagine it being a problem either, it was fairly common for claimed youkai like him to sleep at the foot of their master's bed, but he would be in her territory without her permission, and part of him was terrified by the prospect. He bowed his head in acknowledgement of Minako's command, and left to walk upstairs.

Sesshomaru stripped quickly when he got into his master's room, looking about nervously, relieved to find no evidence of any perversions. Then for the first time in over fifty years, since he'd been raped and impregnated by American servicemen, he let his female attributes reabsorb into his body, looking once again as he had before he carried his first child, at his master's command. He'd managed to get the hanyou daughter who resulted from the rape adopted by one of the more prominent inu hanyou families, saying that he did not feel himself fit to raise her under the circumstances; he was too upset at the rape, and feared he would blame her for it. Finally he dressed, pulling on a pair of cream leather pants, and an unbleached linen shirt, left open to display the rising phoenix over his heart that was his master's claim marking. They made him look rather fragile and vulnerable; he knew that his master liked that because she had said so before.

Sesshomaru returned to the living room, to amuse his master's family, until the time his master had specified. "Your daughter will arrive in ten minutes Minako-san. I must prepare for her arrival." And he knelt, facing the door then bowed forward until his face was pressed to the ground, crossing his wrists behind his back.

0

Kagome knew there was something wrong as soon as she stepped through the well. First because she could sense a youkai waiting in her house, and secondly because her mother was standing outside the well-house, hands on hips, a disapproving frown on her face. And then she realised that she could feel someone else inside her head, in the place she'd felt Sesshomaru after Naraku had almost killed him, she could feel someone's stifled terror. Knowing what Sesshomaru was feeling had faded once he got beyond a hundred or so yards away, but, just like with Inuyasha she'd known where he was, until she entered the well. Then she realised that he was the youkai she could sense, he was waiting in the living room.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Kagome knew she sounded every bit as puzzled as she felt, and there was something else as well. "And how did you know when I'd get back?"

"Your slave told me. He's waiting for you in the living room. And we are going to have a long talk about that." A sense of vague confused hurt surged through Kagome, mixed with anger, she didn't understand why Sesshomaru would want to tell her family that particular lie, or how he knew where, and when she lived for that matter. She could feel an increase in his fear in response to her anger, and somehow that made what her mother said seem real, or at least vaguely possible.

"What do you mean my 'slave'? I don't have a slave, or at least I didn't think I did. Considering the way Sesshomaru just reacted to my anger I might be wrong."

"He's in the living room, how could you know how he reacted?" Kagome knew she'd managed to confuse her mother nicely with that comment. It got the older woman to calm down, and think about why she was angry with Kagome.

"I have a link to him that lets me know how he's feeling, and probably lets him know how I feel. I didn't realise what it meant, I still don't really understand it." Suddenly the anger disappeared from her mother's face, and understanding replaced it.

"Oh, you invoked one of those youkai rituals, and you didn't realise it. Mara – that's what your slave was calling himself when he met your father – mentioned them. He was a great help in reassuring us that you'd be safe, or at least survive back there."

"Mara, wasn't that the woman my father asked to marry him before he met you?" Kagome spoke idly as she walked towards the house. "And didn't she refuse to see me once I was born? I suppose that's explained now."

"Yes, to all three questions." Her mother sounded amused, but Kagome stopped thinking about that when she saw how Sesshomaru had prostrated himself to wait for her, and stopped physically too, dead in the doorway.

"Sesshomaru! What are you doing?" Her outrage and shock were in her voice, and she knew they would reverberate along her bond to the youkai.

"I was greeting you the way a claimed youkai greets his master, Kagome-sama." He knelt up so he was sitting back on his knees, but he kept his head bowed submissively.

"Don't do that. And explain why you think I'm your master." Kagome cursed to herself when she realised that her words had just scared Sesshomaru more. She reached out to stroke his hair and scratch behind his ears in apology and the hope that it would soothe him. "I'm not angry with you Sesshomaru-sama, I'm angry with my Mom, and that spilled over onto you. That might happen again, but it won't be more than words I swear it."

"Thank you Kagome-sama, but it is not proper for you to address me as Sesshomaru-sama. I am your slave, and you should not use any honorific for me. I…the instructions you gave me said that I was to present myself to you when you returned to this time on this date. I thought that meant you had claimed me in the Sengoku Jidai by now, or at least knew that you had the right to do so."

"Explain what you mean, on this last trip I tried to heal you after Naraku almost killed you, and when I couldn't I had Inuyasha give you his blood to heal you, is that how I…claimed you?" Sesshomaru seemed to be calming down; he seemed very jumpy in her time, and more submissive than Kagome could ever have imagined him being.

"Yes and no. Technically you did claim me then, and certainly had the right to do so, but it isn't considered to be official until you put a claim marking on me. This marking." And he pointed to the golden phoenix on his chest. "You were gracious enough to permit me to conceive an heir and raise him at least part way before you marked me."

Kagome shook her head, almost in denial, but not quite, more to put something she didn't want to think about off. "What exactly does it mean that I claimed you?"

"That I belong to you totally, and must obey you. You have the right to treat me however you please, but you are expected to protect me from other Mikos, and hanyous, not physically, but with your magic. My place is to serve you and please you in whatever way you desire. I arranged training in the ways you might wish me to serve you in the years since I saw you last."

"I've got no idea how I want you to serve me. This is all coming a bit fast for me. What exactly would you suggest?"

"Usually those who claim youkai keep at least one as a body slave. A body slave has the highest position a claimed youkai can have, and serves his master personally, doing such things as dressing her, tending to her hair and make-up if she wishes it. They usually sleep at their master's feet and sometimes warm their master's bed."

"Warm their master's bed? You mean have sex with their master. That would be rape – I won't do that. You've been hiding the fact that you've been claimed so far haven't you?"

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru still seemed wary, but he wasn't anywhere near as terrified as he had been.

"Then keep on doing it while I'm in the Sengoku Jidai, until I feel ready to cope with this. You can act as my body slave in this house, but nowhere else while I'm home from there, and I'll try to deal with that. But you'll sleep in the spare bedroom for now, not at my feet." Kagome frowned then. "At least as long as Mom doesn't mind. Now, do you know exactly when I'll be here, and when I'll be back in the Sengoku Jidai with Inuyasha? And if you do how do you know?"

"You gave me a number of scrolls, as well as a dozen CDs, the scrolls contained instructions for me, including the times when you passed through the Bone-Eaters Well up to twelve years in the future. The CDs I was told to tell you about now, and I am to give them to you when you instruct me to. I think they are instructions on how you can develop your powers, the equivalent of a Miko's spell books back then."

"Then bring them to me next time I return. We got five shards this time, while I'm here you can explain about the reason youkai are slaves here and now. But I really need to catch up on my homework, go and make arrangements with my mother for the stuff we've talked about. I don't expect you to start until tomorrow."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru seemed to be content and Kagome left him as she walked up to her room, where her homework would be.

0

J R2

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J R2Begin Part 2 3776


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome frowned as she returned to the Sengoku Jidai. Sesshomaru had shocked her when she learned that she owned him, and even more when he explained about modern youkai culture. There was a strict hierarchy, Mikos, then independent hanyous (which was most of them), next the independent youkai (one in thirty), the claimed hanyous, and finally the claimed youkai. And each class had their own internal hierarchies. For the Mikos it was a simple matter of power and the ability to use it, placing Kagome mid-level until she gained full control of her powers, when Sesshomaru claimed she'd be the highest ranking Miko in the world. For anyone who was claimed it was a combination of who owned them, how highly they stood in their master's favour, how long they'd been claimed for, and whether the claim was original (they'd always belonged to the same person), or transferred (they'd been given to someone else after they'd been claimed). A few pure humans, without Miko powers, were involved in the culture as a result, and they were ranked with independent hanyous as a rule. What had horrified her most was that he seemed to be looking forward to the time when he could move down a class, no, two classes, and become known as a claimed youkai. He'd happily explained to her just how much wealth he had accumulated, and how many businesses that would go into her name, or at least under her control once she felt ready to tell the world that she owned him. And she'd learned a few interesting things, including how to block her end of the link from Sesshomaru, and get through any blocks he put up, as well as use him as a focus for scrying with her powers, searching using him as the centre of the search, not her.

She slid the one-way shield she'd developed over her link to Sesshomaru as she came up from the Bone-Eaters Well and checked where he was. About three days' travel to the west as she estimated it, outside of her range for detecting shards, which was just one day's travel. There weren't any shards inside of that range, neither of her, nor of Sesshomaru, but she had reason to believe her range would grow if she learned how to use her powers better – which was why she wanted to get her hands on those CDs Sesshomaru had for her. Kaede had tried training her, but it never seemed to work right, Kagome's powers worked very differently to a normal Miko's. She'd come back a bit early because she didn't want Inuyasha coming through to find her, and learning that Sesshomaru belonged to her, if nothing else she didn't think he could be discrete about it.

She checked her link to Inuyasha, and realised that she'd always had one of the shields she'd learned to use consciously while she was back in her time over it, and located him in the village. Kagome went to him immediately, but she hung back a bit to watch the show as she found Miroku about to grope Sango. His hand slid unnoticed towards her ass, but as it connected Sango took her boomerang to him.

"Hentai!" Kagome laughed as she stepped forward.

"Will you never learn Miroku? Have you heard any rumours of shards? I can't sense any in my range." Kagome knelt by Shippo, pulling out a chocolate bar for him and pulling him into her lap as she spoke.

"No, we haven't heard any rumours. At least nothing substantial." Miroku sounded disappointed, and he seemed to feel that they'd failed somehow.

"In that case there's something new I want to try." Kagome reluctantly put Shippo aside and pulled some things out of her pack, a shallow bowl, made of beaten silver, laying one of the Shikon no Tama shards in it, a laminated map of Japan, one that just showed physical features and a silver knife.

"What are you doing wench?" Inuyasha grabbed her wrist, demanding an answer as she used the knife to cut across her wrist, spilling the blood into the bowl, over the shard.

"Using my blood to scry over a greater range, hopefully once I 'contaminate' my blood with the Shikon's aura I'll be able to scatter it over the map, and it should show us where all the shards are. I found a way to learn how to use my power better in my time, so I'll need to spend more of my time there – I'm sure you'll agree it will be of value."

Inuyasha agreed reluctantly, but he didn't really have any other choice, and Kagome bound her wrist up again. She shut her eyes, concentrating on putting her power, and purpose into her blood and when she opened them again she saw/not-saw her aura and the Shikon no Tama's intertwined in her blood. Dipping her fingers into the blood she scattered it over the map, and each drop landed where there was a shard. She knew that the two largest concentrations represented her and Naraku, but there were other largish concentrations, but the scale was too small to make them out clearly.

"We'll focus on the shards to the west for now, that's the closest of the larger concentrations." As she spoke Kagome sorted out the large scale map that focused on the area in question, and repeated her actions with this one. "Miroku, Inuyasha, those are our targets. Find out the best way to get to them – the fastest, the most efficient, whatever." She left the two men with that map as she took the knife, bowl, shard and the other map to clean the blood off. By the time she got back they'd made their minds up, and even sketched a couple of maps of their own.

0

Sesshomaru looked around nervously before he slipped into the nursery. His father was with his wife – Sesshomaru refused to call the Miko his father's mate, making plans for how to replace Sesshomaru with this month old brother, Inuyasha, as the heir to the Western Lands. Sesshomaru just prayed that if he was no longer heir then his father wouldn't care that his eldest son looked so feminine.

The hanyou was in his crib, just beginning to complain, hopefully just because he was being ignored and there weren't people around him, making a fuss. Sesshomaru carefully scented the air around his brother, establishing that he was uninjured and had not soiled himself. When Sesshomaru lifted Inuyasha into his arms he immediately nuzzled into the youkai's chest, looking for milk.

Sesshomaru looked around anxiously, but when he couldn't find anything containing milk – even though he'd overheard an argument between the nurse and the Miko over her refusal to breastfeed the pup – he cut open a finger, praying that hanyous were enough like youkai pups that they could take sustenance from blood as well as milk until they were weaned. From the eager way the pup latched onto his finger Sesshomaru got the feeling that this hanyou at least not only could drink blood, but needed to.

The pup seemed to be fascinated by Sesshomaru's long silver hair. He'd thought about cutting it off, to minimise the feminine appearance his father despised so, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Besides his father kept his hair even longer. Sesshomaru had never seen a hanyou pup before and he found Inuyasha's flawlessly white colouring fascinating. He assumed that was a result of the human blood, as all youkai had some markings, usually facial, like his crescent and cheek stripes, but sometimes just on the body, such as the interlocking diamonds running down the arms of the castle healer, Sayaro. Inuyasha had inherited their father's ears and even beneath his puppy fat it was apparent that he had a much stronger bone structure than Sesshomaru did.

Sesshomaru got so lost in the joy of being able to hold and play with such a young pup, younger than he'd ever been allowed to see, that he didn't realise how much time was passing, until his father, and his wife were standing in the doorway. The Miko ran over and snatched his little brother from his hands, setting the pup to wailing in loss.

"What are you doing here?"

"This one just wanted to see Inuyasha. He is beautiful, and his scent is strong." Sesshomaru knelt slowly, hoping that a show of submission would be enough to calm the Miko and his father.

"Michiko!" The Taiyoukai yelled for the nurse. "What were you doing leaving my son alone?"

"The young lord was with him. I knew he wouldn't be neglected."

Inutaisho turned on Sesshomaru next. "Did he seem at all unhappy while you were here?"

"He was hungry when this one arrived. The milk was nowhere in sight so he drank this one's blood instead. He has a good appetite, and was eager to taste the blood."

"You like him."

"Yes Taiyoukai."

"Then I am certain you will be willing to help Michiko care for him, as she seems to need the help. Oh, and Michiko, you earned yourself five lashes." He turned to leave and his wife put the hanyou pup down to follow him, making a single suggestion as they left.

"Perhaps we should give Sesshomaru the wherewithal to have children of his own; it might make it easier to replace him if he is with child."

0

Sesshomaru woke up, panicked, and pulled Rin closer to him, using her as a safety blanket. He thought he'd put that nightmare behind him a long time ago, but telling his new master how his father and his wife had altered him had brought it back up again. It had hurt when they added the womb to his body, and then when he was thirteen and had first come into heat one of the personal guards his father had got for his new wife had tried to rape him. Sesshomaru had managed to kill him, barely holding back his instincts to let the other youkai win and take him and fled to ask Sayaro what was wrong with him. She'd taught him the spell that hid the feminine scent markers and shown him herbs that made it easier to deal with the heat and others for the bleeding that came two weeks later. He felt sorry for Rin, and what her body would do to her, he'd learned that human females went into heat and bled twelve times a year, unless they were with child, not merely twice as youkai did. Slowly he calmed his racing heartbeat, and settled down into a light doze until dawn.

"Hello Sesshomaru. I have things I need to discuss with you." He hadn't felt her emotions through their link! Sesshomaru was shocked, and scared by that. If he couldn't sense what Kagome was feeling how was he to know if he'd pleased or angered her?

"Kagome, should we not speak of them in somewhat more privacy?"

"Yes, I presume you feel you can trust me and mine with your human pup, but this concerns Inuyasha as well."

"If I did not think you were trustworthy I would not have sent her to you." Sesshomaru answered his master's question as he followed her into the forest. They walked until he couldn't hear Rin, or any of his master's friends, then she stopped him by grabbing onto his hair and pulling him down to kiss him. Sesshomaru froze, too scared to do anything else, and remained passive under her demanding mouth and tongue. 'What is she doing? She's never shown any interest in me before. Or in my brother…unless…she wants someone she can hurt, who'll submit to her, and Inuyasha won't?'

"Bitch! You didn't ask us to come here so I could watch you kiss my brother!" Sesshomaru dropped to his knees as his master released him at Inuyasha's shout. He kept his head bowed, and stayed still, trying not to draw his master's attention.

"No, that was a test of sorts, to find out if something I heard was true. Sesshomaru, I promise I won't hurt you. You can get up." Sesshomaru obeyed, standing slowly, and keeping his head bowed. "You belong to me don't you?"

"Yes Kagome-sama. This one is your property to do with as you will. Just…please, do not hurt Rin, protect her…please?" Sesshomaru was trembling at the knowledge of how presumptuous and insolent he was being, but he couldn't bear it if his master hurt his human pup, or abandoned her again, to suffer and die.

"I won't hurt Rin, and I will protect her if she needs it. For the moment I want you to explain to Inuyasha why you belong to me – and could you both sit down while you do it, I'm getting a crick in my neck from staring up at you." Sesshomaru obeyed immediately, and looked to his brother, waiting for him to do as Kagome had said. "That wasn't a suggestion Inuyasha. Osuwari!" Sesshomaru almost cringed as Inuyasha crashed face down into the ground. "Now, Sesshomaru, explain it to us."

"The reason hanyous are killed when they are young is that if they feed their blood to a youkai, with the correct spells that youkai becomes the hanyou's slave. A hanyou with a Miko as the human parent doesn't need the spell." Sesshomaru fell silent, trying his best to calm his fear. Kagome had just hurt his brother because he hadn't obeyed fast enough, and Inuyasha was her protector, at least physically – she hadn't learned to use her magic in combat yet for some reason.

"Then why are you Kagome's slave, not mine?"

"Because you already belong to her. Mikos can enslave hanyous and youkai using their magic. I don't know a lot about that, about how they do it, but I do know they can. I used to wonder if…" He trailed off, too frightened to mention that he'd thought Inuyasha's mother might have done that to their father after she'd married him for alliance purposes.

"I do not belong to that bitch!" Inuyasha yelled at his brother, and at their master, indiscriminately.

"The only other option would be that you enslaved me as a gift for her, and you don't know how to do that." Sesshomaru shivered, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground; hopefully, if he stayed quiet, he wouldn't get caught by the fallout from his brother's defiance.

"Shut up Inuyasha. Yes, you do belong to me technically, but I won't take advantage of it – I never have before, have I?"

"Feh! You keep on sitting me for no reason. And how long has this been going on?" Inuyasha actually sounded sulky, and suddenly Sesshomaru realised he could feel his master's amusement. At least she wasn't angry, that eased his apprehension a little.

"I sit you when you attack someone without any real reason, when you try to use force to keep me here or do what you want, and occasionally to get your attention or when you make me angry. That is actually an external restraint from Kaede's magic – my link to you is made partly out of your own magic and is now intrinsic to you. If I use it to give you an order you would not be able to disobey, but I don't do it that often. Remember what it felt like when I told you to shut up just now?"

"Yes."

"That's what it feels like when I give you an order that way. How often have you felt that?"

"Five, six times, but it wasn't always important!"

"No, I didn't understand it at first. This link developed after we learned why you need the Tetsusaiga, and once I realise you had no choice but to obey me if I forced you I mostly stopped doing it. I only realised it made you my slave when I learned that your brother belongs to me, and I realised my power marks you both in the same way. Of course it won't be formal until I mark you both physically, will it Sesshomaru?"

"No Kagome-sama it won't be."

"Why are you so scared Sesshomaru?"

"You are a Miko, and I've never seen a Miko who wasn't cruel." Sesshomaru curled in on himself, just waiting to be punished for his insolence, he knew that he'd insulted his master and she would be angry at him for that. But all he felt through the bond was shock, and…compassion for him?

"My mother was not cruel!" Inuyasha sounded furious; perhaps his master would just let her brother beat him up?

"Was she the one who changed you and Inuyasha?" He felt Kagome doing something, but he didn't know what it was. "I think I've removed the gaes, so you should be able to talk about it."

"Y-yes. I can't remember how often he came to me for comfort after she'd done something to 'improve' him."

"Feh! As if I'd be stupid enough to come to you for comfort. You've always been colder than a block of ice."

"No!" Sesshomaru raised his voice and his eyes for a second, and then let them both drop again. "I only started trying to imitate Father's behaviour after he died, I couldn't think of any other way to avoid being killed for weakness, or to keep you alive. I wasn't old enough to rule without a regent, and he wanted to kill you, it was only when I pointed out my duty to keep you alive that he agreed to let you and your mother leave."

"My father wasn't cold and uncaring, he always made time for me, I remember him teaching me to hunt, when I made my first kill he let me eat it raw and said-"

"No, I taught you how to hunt," Sesshomaru interrupted, just hoping that Kagome wouldn't be angry, although it seemed to amuse her, "and after you killed that rabbit I said I'd teach you how to cook your next kill. Then I asked you not to mention this to your mother, or she'd shout at me about teaching her son to act like a savage. And I taught you how to cleanse the family linkage from your blood so you could use it to heal demons not of your family. I inherited my venom from my mother, and you once asked me why I scratched humans then stitched them up if they were wounded, and just fed my blood to youkai."

"You said youkai blood could only heal youkai, but venom that could kill people, could also, in small enough amounts kill pain. Why did I always think that was my father then?"

"Because youkai infants need blood as well as their mother's milk, and usually it is their father who feeds them that blood. Father refused to feed his blood to me because I looked too feminine, and he got my mother pregnant at every heat, but she miscarried every time, by the fourth month without fail. That's what eventually killed her. She got her guards to feed me their blood, and fed me her own, but no one guard gave me blood often enough to constitute an adoption. I thought he fed you his blood, so it didn't matter that I gave you my blood three to four times a week after you were a month old."

Sesshomaru shrugged trying to hide how much what he was about to tell his brother had hurt him. "No servants would go to their Taiyoukai for healing, and they stopped coming to me as soon as Father died. I ended up talking to Sayaro, and figuring out a way to store my blood, and put just enough venom to help into a cream to use on wounds before she stitched the humans up. I always used to love healing people, and that's why I was given this." He touched the Tensaiga to illustrate his words. "But he said he was leaving a decent blade to you, because you were a real fighter, and obviously better fitted for a warrior's blade than I was."

"And that's why you wanted Tetsusaiga. Once I formally claim you you'll have to give up your position as Taiyoukai, won't you?"

"Yes Kagome."

"Who is your heir?"

"Inuyasha, but no one would accept a hanyou. After him there is my father's brother, who was my regent. He tried to have me killed once or twice during his regency, but I managed to survive. I modelled my attitude towards humans on him, and that helped stop the attempts on my life."

"And how old were you when you could rule in your own right?"

"Twenty."

"When will you next go into heat?"

"Five months time. I was in heat when Naraku…" it was too painful for Sesshomaru to willingly talk about it, and Kagome seemed to understand that.

"In that case you have two years to conceive an heir. If you don't have an heir by then I will formally claim you, but if you do then I'll wait until the pup is ten years old. You didn't do too badly with Inuyasha, and you only had him for half that time."

"Yes Kagome-sama. But why do I have to carry my heir myself?"

"Because that way his father can be his regent, otherwise your uncle will be his regent, and he might not survive. Your pup's father won't have any motivation to kill him, your uncle might."

"Oh! I'm sorry to be so stupid Kagome-sama. I have a cousin, the son of my father's father's sister's son. He is a strong fighter, and from a good lineage. He doesn't know too much about politics, but I can teach him, and he does desire me. Do you think he will do?"

"I'll trust your judgement on the matter."

"You will? Thank you Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru knew better than to move when Kagome reached out and began petting him.

"You are very submissive Sesshomaru. Inuyasha always fights me, even when I'm right, even though he knows I can hurt him. I haven't done a thing to you, but you've obeyed without question."

"Inuyasha wouldn't know how to be submissive if his life depended on it." Sesshomaru felt a strange mix of envy, pride and shame as he answered his master's implied question. "I learned how to submit when I was still a pup, because my father thought I wasn't good enough to be his heir. He liked to hurt me, and he let his wife do the same."

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J R1Begin Part 3 4695 


	3. Chapter 3

Kagome was still fuming when they got back to the Bone-Eaters Well. She'd been muttering curses under her breath from the instant they'd been out of Sesshomaru's hearing range. Miroku and Sango had stared at her as a result especially as Inuyasha was totally silent; he almost seemed to be in shock.

"Filthy, abusive, stupid… Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children! To hurt your own flesh and blood! Just for politics! Neglect's a form of abuse too!"

"Kagome-sama, what are you talking about?" Miroku had barely got the words out of his mouth when the Miko snarled.

"Those wastes of skin that Inuyasha calls his parents. We just learned that it was his own mother and father who altered him as a kid – they hurt him so badly that he went to Sesshomaru for comfort afterwards!"

"You were that desperate?" Sango looked at the hanyou in surprise.

"I always thought my father raised me mostly until he died. Sesshomaru acted totally different before then, so when I met him again I didn't connect him to the demon who always had time for me, to comfort me if I was hurt, who taught me how to hunt and fight, at least the basics. But that was Sesshomaru, and I still can't quite believe it."

"How much older than you is Sesshomaru?" Kagome was diverted just a little by that fact, something she hadn't really processed yet.

"He was ten years old when I was born." Inuyasha answered shortly. "I still can't believe that I thought he was my father."

"He explained it. He fed you his blood, and your father didn't, so in effect he adopted you. Perhaps your father didn't realise a hanyou would need blood as well as his mother's milk?" Kagome didn't really believe that, but she wanted to cheer up the dejected hanyou.

"When he wanted me to be as youkai as possible? And you heard what Sesshomaru said – he didn't even give his blood to his full youkai son!"

"He didn't want Sesshomaru to be his heir, he probably hoped he'd die and he'd be able to claim it was an accident!" Kagome almost snarled her last words. "I don't think too much of Sesshomaru's mother either – why would she let that bastard treat her like that? And not only that – to let him hurt her son!"

"Kagome-chan, most women in this time don't have many choices. Once a woman marries she belongs to her husband, I expect it's the same with youkai?" Sango sounded sympathetic and resigned at the same time, as if she'd come up against that unspoken rule too often to count.

"I don't know. My mother never let me learn much about youkai culture, after she died I mostly cared about learning how to fight and defend myself. I can ask Myoga next time he's around."

"Yes, please do it Inuyasha, or there might be someone in my time I can ask."

"Who, Kagome-sama?" Miroku looked mystified by the idea, and tried using the distraction to grope Sango, only to freeze at the young Miko's answer.

"Sesshomaru. He's the one who's helping me learn how to use my powers better. Think about how long youkai live – he's changed by my time, I'd rather not discuss why." Kagome stopped talking then, and began moving more determinedly towards their village. The others got the hint and followed in silence, dropping the subject.

"Inuyasha, I'm staying in my time for three weeks, seeing as we got fifteen shards this time."

"What do you mean you're staying there for three fucking weeks?"

"I mean I need to spend time there. For every five shards we collect I'll spend a week back home, for less I'll either put them in the 'bank' so to speak, for future visits to my time, or spend a day there for each shard. Do you want me to repeat that scrying and find out where the nearest shards are for you, so that you can get them while I'm gone?"

"That was only good for getting an area though wasn't Kagome-sama?" Miroku sounded as if he were trying to solve a logic problem.

"Yes, but if we can pinpoint an area you can go there and find out about any rumours, then use that to get the shards."

"Do it Kagome." As soon as Inuyasha had agreed Kagome got the materials out and began contaminating her blood with the Shikon shard. She used first the map with all of Japan on, and then the map for the area with a high proportion of shards closest to the village. Once the others had got the information they needed Kagome packed the maps and other things up and left.

0

Sesshomaru glanced up as he caught his master's scent, but then returned to setting up the desktop computer he'd gotten for her family. Her personal laptop and handheld computer were in her bedroom along with the CDs she'd left with him containing her spells and techniques for using her magic. He'd also got a laptop for her little brother to make sure he wasn't jealous about Kagome's laptop. But one of the CDs he'd left on his master's bed was not her work, instead it was something he'd put together, a selection of monographs and books on sexual submissiveness and the D/s scene – and the first sexual fantasy he'd ever written down, something he'd kept at her orders. He hadn't understood that he was sexually submissive until his master taught him that, but the signs had always been there for anyone who could see them.

The last order she had given him before she left was to seduce her younger self. "I won't want to sleep with you, because I thought it would be rape. I didn't understand that you are sexually submissive, and that you'd been in love with me for five hundred years. You'll need to convince me to take you to my bed, and to do that you'll need to educate me in the more exotic sexual tastes. Remember that fantasy I had you write down when I began courting you? I want you to find some way to show it to my younger self; that will make a starting point, perhaps not a good one, but a starting point. I know you don't consider it appropriate for you to talk about your own needs or display them, but it might help if you use them to encourage my younger self to dominate you in various ways. That is if you want her to. If you really can't bear the thought of sleeping with her you can get out of it by telling her about these orders – she'll be only too willing to countermand them."

Now that he'd met Kagome as she was when she first claimed him Sesshomaru understood that, but he had no intention of letting her know about those orders to countermand them. He loved her with everything he had, and he craved a master, someone to control him, in bed and out of it. It had been so long since he'd felt safe, and he'd had to trade his body to others too many times for him to want anything but to be Kagome's exclusive property, someone no other Miko, or hanyou would dare touch, or harm because his master was so powerful and used her power so readily.

He remembered how she'd courted him after he'd given birth to his first child, and finished his duty to the father. Her first courting gift had actually been the spell she cast giving him the option to retain his pregnant physiology to a degree after he gave birth, although he didn't think either of them saw it that way at the time. She'd taken it slow, and been incredibly patient with him, and never once had she commanded him into her bed. She'd commanded him to do other things, like writing that fantasy down, but not to share her bed. Remembering that he realised it had been a mistake to mention that one of a body slave's duties was to warm his master's bed, she wouldn't want him in her bed merely from duty, but only if he desired it.

"Sesshomaru. You didn't need to get us a new computer; our old one would have been perfectly adequate you know." He hated it that his master used his full name. At first when his master had used her nickname for him he'd resented it a little, but he quickly came to love the intimacy of it, the sense of closeness he'd never felt before. And asking for her to use his nickname would be perfectly innocuous, something she'd be willing to give freely.

"Yes Kagome-sama, but it was old. And you needed a laptop and handheld computer so you could take them to the Sengoku Jidai if you felt it necessary. If it makes you feel better the money for them came from your father's share in our profits. Might I ask a favour of you?"

"What do you want to ask?"

"You used to call me 'Sess', I've missed that, could you please do it again?"

"Sess. That's not a problem. I can do that for you. Wait a second, you said my laptop and handheld?"

"You do not want to take up all day on this computer while you learn how to use your magic, do you Kagome-sama? There's another CD there. It contains things I thought you needed to know, but some parts are password protected. There's a text file named for each folder with a question that should tell you the password after you've read through the other stuff. It's the blue CD; the others are your spells and such."

"Exactly what did you think I needed to know Sesshomaru?" Sesshomaru flinched, his master's voice was angry, and he could feel her anger.

"That's the other reason I asked you to use the nickname you gave me, I associate my full name from your lips with you being angry at me. I thought you'd rather learn about inu youkai instincts and habits from a Miko who'd made a study of such things and has a career as a behavioural psychologist than from me. The same with modern youkai culture – you didn't seem to enjoy hearing about it from me before." He felt his master's anger die as quickly as it had flared at that explanation.

"No I didn't. I don't approve of slavery Sess, and that you seemed eager to return to being a slave is something I can't understand, not at all." Kagome sounded, and felt sad.

"Some of the password protected folders address that issue actually. There are youkai who hate being claimed, but I'm not one of them."

0

Sesshomaru was giving her information on why he was happy to be her property. And information on inu youkai instincts and modern youkai culture in more detail than he'd given her before. She'd have to get through the stuff he thought she needed to know first, but he might be right about that. And even if he wasn't, indulging him in this was a small price to pay in compensation for having enslaved him.

"Sess, there's something I need to know about youkai culture in the Sengoku Jidai." Kagome knew that the youkai didn't want to talk about modern youkai culture, after how hostile she'd been about it, but hopefully he'd be more willing to talk about the older form of youkai culture.

"What do you wish to know Kagome-sama?"

"Exactly what position did a female youkai have in a marriage? Sango said that a human woman belonged to her husband, but what about a youkai female?"

"Marriage was never practised by youkai, not the way it is among humans, and hanyou. But two youkai can become mates. It is a mystical bonding, and cannot be broken. A youkai can also become a Miko's or a hanyou's mate. There is always a submissive mate, and a dominant mate. Which partner will be submissive and which dominant is determined in the first few weeks of the mating, and the newly mated pair are usually left in seclusion while they determine that. The submissive mate is always faithful, but the dominant mate has the option of taking other lovers, my father did while my mother was pregnant. He married Inuyasha's mother, and he did not make her his mate, because of the risk. In pure youkai matings the female is usually submissive, but not always. But that is why female youkai who ruled rarely took mates, and chose one male to sire their children, a consort, not a mate. With a mixed pairing it is usually the youkai who is submissive, which is why my father only married Inuyasha's mother, rather than risk mating her. The mating won't hold with a normal human, they don't have the magic to anchor their end of the bond."

"Is that why your mother let your father kill her from repeated miscarriages? And abuse you into the bargain?" Anger flared along the link, and Kagome knew that she should stop it, control it, but she couldn't sense any fear of her coming from Sess.

"She never knew that he was…hurting me." Sess had paused before the word hurting, as if another word sprung to mind. To Kagome's way of thinking his mother should have known that her mate was hurting her son, even if they both tried to hide it. "I hid it from her, so she wouldn't have anything else to be upset about." Upset because her son was being hurt, or for some other reason? Kagome could sense a hint of guilt from Sess, and fear, but not of her, of his memories. "And yes. The submissive mate has little to no choice in what her mate does to her, and cannot disobey him, not easily or safely. It could quite easily kill the submissive partner to disobey." Was that why he'd kept what had been happening to him from his mother? Was he afraid she'd try to protect him and die for it, or afraid she'd choose her own life over protecting her child?

"I'm sorry to have to ask you something so hard for you to answer. Is there anything I can do for you, as a reward?"

"Might I sit at your feet while you read the CDs, and sleep in your bedroom tonight?"

"What!" Kagome was shocked at Sess' choice of reward; it wasn't anything she could understand. "How is that a reward for you? And I'm not sure Mom will let you sleep in my bedroom at all."

"At least let me sit at your feet, or beside you, where I can lean against you until you decide to go to bed. It's a reward for me because I need to be in contact with you to some degree. It makes me feel safer; reassured that no one will hurt me, or even touch me, because I belong to you. I've gone five hundred years without that, please do not deny it to me." Kagome couldn't deny the desperate need in her youkai's voice, so she just nodded, and led him upstairs. There were seven CDs waiting for her, and she started with the first green one. She quickly realised that the six CDs were a set of instructions for learning how to use her powers from the ground up. The first one would give her the grounding she'd lacked before, when she was flying more or less on instinct and on what few spells she could find that worked the same for her as for normal Mikos. The other five covered the different aspects of using her powers in detail – one was labelled 'Combat magic' and she vowed that once she'd gained the proper grounding, laid the foundation for new work she would start with that disk.

Two hours later she thought she'd covered as much as she could at a time, she'd even managed to finally ground and centre her powers properly, and it felt like a controllable part of her, not just something that would flare up without any true control at times, or refuse to work at other times. As a reward she decided to move on to the CD Sess had prepared for her. Without her noticing it her hand had dropped to pet Sess, and she realised he'd been purring when she moved her hand and he stopped, whining instead.

"Were you enjoying that?"

"Yes Kagome-sama. Youkai, especially claimed youkai are a lot more tactile than humans, we just tend to keep it among our pack. At least if we form packs, otherwise among our family. I stopped considering Inuyasha part of my pack after he rejected my help. I know it was late, but I offered him aid, invited him to live in my home as soon as I could find him after I could rule in my own right."

"You did what you could. It isn't your fault that you didn't have the option of keeping him with you after your father died. At least you made sure he wouldn't be killed outright." She could tell Sess was uncomfortable discussing the matter, so she shut her laptop down and put it to one side, kicking off her shoes. "Come up here." She lay back on the bed, and when he climbed up beside her pulled the youkai down to lie in her arms. She could tell how surprised he was at that, and just how happy and grateful for the contact.

"What…" Kagome glanced up at her mother when she opened the door, looking shocked at how she found the two of them.

"Mom. Sess needed comfort. He wants to sleep in my room tonight. We won't do anything, just sleep; I give you my word of honour." Kagome found herself willing her mother to understand and agree.

"Where will he sleep then?"

"We can pull a futon in for him for tonight. He gave me information that was painful for him to tell me about, but I needed it. This is what he asked for as a reward, I couldn't refuse him." Kagome could feel how content her slave was just to be lying in her arms, he didn't even seem to care that she was talking over him as if he were a dog or some other animal, something that couldn't understand.

"A reward?"

"Apparently there's some sort of instinct that means he needs to be around me or something. He gave me a CD that he thinks will guide me through modern youkai culture. You can look at it while I'm off hunting shards if you want."

"Yes, but it's time for tea."

"Come on then Sess."

Once Kagome'd finished eating she decided to catch up as much as she could with her school work, Sesshomaru knelt by her feet, leaning against her legs as she worked, and curled happily on the futon when she decided to sleep.

0

Sesshomaru repressed a shiver as he looked at his cousin, the one he'd mentioned to Kagome. Oh, he was handsome enough, with silver hair and purple eyes, and a dark red diamond marking on his forehead and pale blue stripes on his cheeks, but something in the way he looked at Sesshomaru had always made the Taiyoukai feel…soiled for lack of a better word. But Karritarous was one of the strongest fighters he'd met, he'd defeated Sesshomaru in spars, the only one beside Inuyasha and Naraku to do that in the last ten years, and he didn't have a mate, he didn't want one, and his lineage was impeccable. He'd sent Jaken to tell him to come to Sesshomaru's castle as soon as Kagome left after ordering him to conceive an heir.

"Before we begin I want you to cast a privacy spell on this room." Sesshomaru knew that Karritarous didn't have that much in the way of magic, but he certainly had enough to cast a simple privacy spell. The other youkai obeyed, but questioned him as he did so.

"Why do I need to do this? You are more than capable of casting a privacy spell yourself." And that was true, even with the glamour he always kept up Sesshomaru was one of the few pure youkai with magic to match even the weakest of true Mikos or priests.

"I've already cast one, but I want a layered spell, and that means getting two of us to separately cast a privacy spell. It is much more effective, because there are two different types of power present." Sesshomaru waited for his cousin to sit down again before he continued.

"You find me desirable, do you not?"

"Very much. But you have to find a mate, some female to carry your heirs, more's the pity." His hungry eyes raked up and down Sesshomaru's body as he spoke.

"No, I don't actually. I can carry my heir myself. I want you to sire him."

"And what would I get out of this?"

"The same things a female Taiyoukai's consort would – access to my body while I am in heat until I've conceived, the position as the father of my heir, and if he needs a regent you would take that position."

"Not good enough. I want access to your body from now until you go into heat again after you give birth. And I want you to be completely submissive to me in bed, to do whatever I want with no protest."

"Provided that while I am in heat you only lie with me in such a way that I can become pregnant, and while I am pregnant you do not do anything that will endanger my child."

"Agreed." Karritarous stepped over to Sesshomaru, pulling him up to his feet and kissing him deeply. The Taiyoukai stayed passive beneath the other's lips, letting him probe all he wanted to, but never responding – if Karritarous wanted submissive he would get submissive.

Finally the other pulled back. "Let's take this to your bedroom. I want to touch that beautiful body of yours now. When will you be in heat next anyway?"

"I was in heat a month ago, when Naraku almost killed me. If I hadn't been hiding that aspect of my scent he would have raped me, and probably forced a mating on me."

"You could probably find a mate in the next five months if you wanted to. Are you afraid you'd be the submissive partner?"

"With the amount of magic I've got?" Sesshomaru was scared he'd end up being dominated if he was ever permitted to take a mate, but he wasn't about to admit it. "But, if I took a mate she wouldn't be allowed to act as regent for my heir if it was necessary, and I do not think my uncle would let him live to adulthood. You would make sure our son lived to take his place as Taiyoukai if it came to that. But I need to teach you about politics before anything like that happens."

"Very well. I never needed to know much about that, but I can see how it could become important. Was there any other reason you chose me?"

"You fight well, and you have good ancestry. Besides you've been lusting after me for a while. Haven't you?"

"Yes, you're gorgeous. I'd have to be insane not to." They'd reached Sesshomaru's bedroom by now. "Now get undressed."

Sesshomaru obeyed, stripping awkwardly, and lay down on the bed when directed.

"I'll need to teach you to do that more gracefully, but that's for later. For now tell me, have you ever had a lover?" Karritarous began running his hands over Sesshomaru's body as he spoke.

"No."

"Then we'll start slow." Karritarous stripped himself, much more gracefully and seductively than Sesshomaru had managed. "I want you to kneel in front of me and take my dick in your mouth. You can experiment however you want – I'll tell you if you're doing something wrong – but I want to come inside your mouth."

"Could you sit down then? I think that would make it easier." Sesshomaru kept his eyes cast down as he stood to obey. When Karritarous complied with his request he knelt and used the skills he'd developed more than sixty years ago to satisfy him. It was a lot easier this time, he remembered how to breathe around the flesh choking his mouth, and his cousin didn't start thrusting into his mouth, preferring to let Sesshomaru do the work.

"And you've never done that before?" Karritarous stroked Sesshomaru's hair gently afterwards.

"I never wanted to risk anyone finding out about what I am. I wasn't sure what the reaction would be." Sesshomaru decided to go with a misleading truth, rather than an outright lie. He really didn't want anyone to realise the reason his mother had started to reach four or five months pregnant before miscarrying, rather than two or three, after he was five years old was because his father had stopped having sex with her while she was pregnant then – he'd made his son give him blow jobs instead, and it hadn't stopped until he married Inuyasha's mother.

"Hmm." Karritarous sounded as if he wasn't sure that he believed Sesshomaru, but he let it slide. "Get up here and lie beside me."

"W-what are you doing?" Sesshomaru hated the way he stammered when he felt his cousin's hand between his legs, gripping his cock, but he was startled at the action, it made no sense to him.

"Giving you pleasure. Haven't you ever done this yourself?"

"Only to distract myself during my heat and those are not the parts I need to pay attention to."

"You mean when you bring yourself you focus your attention here?" And Karritarous' hand moved back to explore his cunt.

"It helps distract me. If I didn't then I might let my glamour slip. I had to kill the youkai who tried to force themselves on me when that happened, but it was a lot harder than it should have been."

"You mean that when you're in heat you've got the female instinct to let a male fight you, and then take you?"

"Yeah. It helps to tell myself that if I killed them, if they couldn't best me they weren't good enough to sire my pups."

"Will I have to fight you when you get into heat?"

"A token struggle at least. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to help it."

"Oh I don't mind a token struggle. As long as you let me win."

"That's one reason I chose you, I think you'd be able to win while I'm in heat, you have even when I wasn't before. If you can get close enough to bite the back of my neck I always freeze for a moment."

"What like a neko?" Karritarous was still stroking between Sesshomaru's legs while they spoke, and the Taiyoukai shut his eyes as he came, spurting his seed over the other's hand.

"Yes. I do not know why." And he didn't know, although he suspected it was something his father's wife had added when she gave him a womb, to weaken him.

"I'm going to take you now. It will hurt a bit, because this is your first time." And Karritarous pinned Sesshomaru down before he slid into him. Sesshomaru bit his lip as it happened, resisting the pain as well as he could, but the pain did fade and it was replaced by pleasure. "I'll leave in the morning. I'll return in a week or so, but I'd like to get some things before I move in – I take it you are inviting me to move here?"

"Yes, of course."

"Sleep now." And Karritarous rolled over and went to sleep, leaving Sesshomaru to bathe before joining him. He was surprised at how it had gone, it had been…bearable, and he hadn't expected any concern for his pleasure, but he had the feeling it would get worse.

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	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't a school day for Kagome, so she had all day to work on her magic, and on understanding modern youkai culture – well apart from the time she'd need to spend on her homework, and catching up on the things she'd missed. She'd been surprised to see Sess curled up on the futon, watching her sleep, but she quickly remembered that she'd given him permission to sleep there. Once he saw she was awake he'd dropped his gaze to the futon, carefully not meeting her eyes in a blatant display of submission.

"Good morning Sess." She finally greeted him when it became obvious he wasn't going to speak first.

"Good morning Kagome-sama." He bowed his head to her, making it all too obvious that he considered her his better.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I have for a long time Kagome-sama, it was easier before you were born, knowing that you were there, but I could not see you, it was hard for me to handle. And our bond felt wrong after you were born. Before it just felt as if you were a long way away from me, or blocking me, as is your right, but once you were born, if I got within sensing range of you it was as if there was some sort of void on the other end, worse than not being able to feel your emotions." There was a sense of pain running through his words, and Kagome reached out to Sess in an effort to comfort him. The inu youkai immediately pushed against her hand with his head, asking her to pet him without words the way Buyo sometimes did. It surprised her, but she began stroking his hair and scratching behind his ears, the way she had last night, and she soon had him purring again.

"We need to get some breakfast, what do you want?" Sess had always been awake and finished breakfast by the time she woke up on the two days she'd spent here on her last visit back in her time.

"Whatever pleases you best." That was a totally unexpected reaction. Kagome couldn't understand it at first, but then it occurred to her that perhaps he wasn't supposed to express a preference.

"Is there some youkai tradition that I'm missing here?"

"No, but…very few of those who have claimed youkai give them any choice in what they eat. It surprised me that you permitted me to eat with your family, and sit at the table with you at meals."

"What did you expect?"

"It is covered in the CD, but we're usually treated as pets more or less. And you wouldn't invite a pet to sit at the table with you." The acceptance in Sesshomaru's voice was heartbreaking, at least to Kagome.

"I don't care about that. If we have to we'll follow those rules in public, but not here, not when we're just with family."

"Eventually you will be high ranked enough to disregard the social conventions, but not yet." She couldn't believe it – Sesshomaru was the one who'd lost so many rights, but he was trying to comfort her!

"You don't need to comfort me. Let's get downstairs."

"What do you wish to eat Kagome-sama?" Sess was obviously ready to serve her breakfast to Kagome, much to her family's shock and amusement.

"I'll get it myself. Just get what you want, sit down and eat."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sess got a bowl of muesli and sat at the table, looking at his master from beneath lowered lashes, waiting for her to start eating.

"You know all this submissive stuff is just making my mother worry about you more. She's going to be asking me about how I treat you and why you're acting like this whenever she gets the chance – and I don't even know the answers!" Kagome had needed to order Sess to stay out of her bedroom while she was dressing; he'd assumed that he would help her dress or something. She'd let him back in once she'd finished dressing – and he'd changed into fresh clothes.

"You are incredibly generous with me Kagome-sama, it's just I spent a lot of time training to satisfy you between the time you left and now, and I suppose I want to show you what I've learned. Some of the answers are on the CD I prepared for you, I don't have the words to explain it."

"In that case I better see just what is on this mysterious CD of yours." Kagome started up her laptop and loaded the CD. She hadn't actually given Sess permission to stay with her, but she hadn't told him to do something else either, and she'd learned that unless she gave him other instructions he would stay as close to her as he could. When the window opened up for the CD she saw a rich text file titled "'The Care and Training of Inu Youkai'? It makes you sound like animals!" And considering that the folder labelled 'Youkai Culture' had a matching text file, which had to be the key to its password Kagome would have to read it first.

"The Miko who wrote it thinks of us as animals, but for that reason it has a very good and objective analysis of our instinctive behaviours, and how they are affected when we are claimed." Sess was uncomfortable with the title, but he seemed to truly believe it was the best basic guide she could have, so Kagome plunged into it.

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Sess had persuaded Kagome to let him brush out her hair while she worked on her magic, and on getting familiar with youkai culture. She'd managed to work her way through 'The Care and Training of Inu Youkai' in two weeks, and she'd even started using some of the non-verbal communication that was so much a part of youkai culture. The first time she'd hit him on the nose when he'd been trailing too close behind her had scared him a bit, he dropped straight to the ground and crawled over to nuzzle at her foot in wordless apology, but he'd become a bit more used to it since then.

"Enough of that." Kagome shut the laptop down and pushed away from her desk. "Sess, I need some information on the healing power of youkai blood. And I think I need it fast. Are you up to answering a few questions about it?"

"Yes Kagome-sama." It was the first time she'd asked anything of him since she'd first returned to this time, even if he hadn't been comfortable there was no way Sess would have refused. They moved over to her bed and Sess knelt with his head in her lap, knowing that she'd pet him while they were talking if he gave her even a slight hint that he needed it.

"I know that hanyou and youkai blood can both be used to improve a youkai's healing ability if the donor heals faster than the recipient, but how do you know if that's the case?"

"All hanyous heal faster than all youkai, even the slowest healing of hanyous heals faster than the fastest healing of youkai. But, it's too dangerous for a hanyou to give a youkai his blood, we'd never take it willingly, because hanyous scare us too much, because they can control us too easily. There are a lot of factors determining how fast a youkai heals. But the two main things are bloodline, the more powerful bloodlines tend to heal faster than the weaker ones, and how often a youkai has had to use his healing abilities – that's one reason Inuyasha's healing abilities are phenomenal even for a hanyou. It's also one reason I am one of the fastest youkai to heal from injuries and so on – and it would have taken me about twenty-five years to regenerate a lost eye the way Inuyasha did after I tore his out to get to our father's grave. The other reason we both heal fast is that we come from one of the most powerful bloodlines there is, and it is the bloodline that is best known for healing abilities."

"So you heal faster than Kouga would without his Shikon shards?"

"Yes Kagome-sama. And faster now than I did back then." Sess suddenly realised where this was going, but he refused to be so presumptive as to bring another aspect up without Kagome's explicit permission or instructions.

"You said something about clearing the family influence, before giving your blood to most youkai, or Inuyasha did. What does that mean?"

"Normally it is only safe to give blood to a close family member, a pup or a mate, rarely a sibling, to heal them. Otherwise the magic in the blood can do more damage than healing. But there's a spell we can use to prevent the magic from reacting violently with unrecognised youkai, and it cleanses the family influence from the blood so to speak. It also preserves it perfectly." He could hear some girls at the door, asking to see Kagome, and her mother told them to just go on up to her room. "Kagome-sama, your friends are here to see you."

"Right." Kagome sighed, but she kept on petting him, stroking his hair and scratching behind his ears. "We'll have to finish this later then."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sess expected his master to let go of him and permit him to sit up before her friends arrived but that didn't seem to occur to her, and he was still kneeling at her feet, head in his lap when they got there. It hurt his ears when they squealed in surprise, and he buried his head deeper into his master's lap for protection.

"Kagome-chan, who's that? And what's he doing with his head in your lap?"

"Yuka!" His master was surprised, despite the warning he'd given, he could feel it through their bond. "This is Sess. He's my…" Kagome trailed off, obviously uncertain how to put it. "He's mine, let's just leave it at that. He had a headache, and I was trying to help him." She gave one last stroke to his hair, and then pushed his head out of her lap. "Why don't you go and see if my mother needs any help Sess – I'm sure our gossip would just bore you."

"Yes Kagome-sama." The response was automatic – after his master had formally claimed him she'd spent twenty years with him before she left, and he'd always addressed her with the appropriate respect, and learned to obey her without question. He could hear the girls asking questions about him, and why he was so obedient – as well as how 'cute' he was, but that was his master's concern, not his.

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Kagome carried a small bottle of Sess' blood with her, cleansed of the family influence, when she went back to the Sengoku Jidai and a pot of cream mixed with just enough of his venom to kill pain if it was necessary, besides all of the other things she normally took with her. She'd had to scramble to explain why he'd addressed her as Kagome-sama and obeyed her so readily, and eventually she fell back on a half-truth, that he'd been abused while he was younger and as a result he tended towards submissive behaviour. She'd also claimed that she was the first person who showed any caring towards him, so he'd decided he was in love with her. They'd responded by teasing her about having another boyfriend, besides the two-timing jerk she'd talked about. The idea had made her uncomfortable, she knew that Sess was expecting her to command him to have sex with her, but she still thought of it as something akin to rape.

"Hi guys. How've you been doing?" The rest of her pack, and thanks to the reading she'd been doing she recognised them as her pack, were all waiting for her at Kaede's village.

"We only managed to get two Shikon shards." Miroku sounded disappointed and dispirited. "I know you said there were more in that area, but these were all we managed to find." And he handed the two shards to her for purification.

"I'll check the area out again, depending how many shards I can detect there we could go and search that area again." Kagome reached for her maps, and the rest of her scrying gear, but then Inuyasha stopped her as she began sorting through them.

"Feh! They're probably scattered by now. Do the big map first, then work from there."

"You have a point Inuyasha." Kagome repeated her scrying, finding the closest concentration of shards and then finding those shards in more detail on a larger scale map, and then they set off to the north.

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Sesshomaru shivered at Karritarous' touch. He didn't really like some of the things his cousin enjoyed; they made him feel dirty, especially if he found himself enjoying them as he had a time or two. Karritarous seemed to be disappointed by his reaction, but he didn't say anything about that.

"Undress me if you would." Sesshomaru moved to obey; it had been an easy enough lesson to learn, and one which might be of use to him if he needed to serve Kagome-sama closely. His cousin caught him by the hair as he finished and pulled him up to kiss him. Sesshomaru never responded to those kisses in any way, he just opened his mouth and let his cousin take it.

"Why do you never respond when I kiss you? Kami! You never respond at all if you can help it."

"You said you wanted me submissive. That means I don't respond unless you drive me to the point where I can't help it, or you command me to." Sesshomaru stated what seemed obvious to him, although he'd also picked that particular stance because he thought it might annoy the other youkai at least a bit.

"Who taught you that?" Karritarous seemed confused at the answer.

"No one, it is obvious."

"Someone must have taught you this; no one is this perfectly submissive naturally." It was a cry of frustration.

"I decided that if I was going to be submissive in bed with you I would be perfectly so, it would be beneath me to do otherwise. So the week you took to get your clothes, and toys, I spent working out exactly what responding submissively meant." Sesshomaru kept his eyes fixed to the ground, and he didn't mention the experience he had of hiding himself from his father, and most adults, and how if you were quiet and unobtrusive enough nobody noticed you. He'd also focused on the fact that he was doing this at Kagome-sama's bidding, that bearing pups would please his master, to help him get through having to let someone touch him, and use his body.

"I prefer a bit more in the way of response than that. I like to see if I've pleased my lover or not. Do you think you can manage that?" Karritarous stroked Sesshomaru's hair and the side of his face, smiling at him with deliberate gentleness.

"Yes, I understand."

"Good. Now you can undress for me." Sesshomaru obeyed, imbuing his actions with all the sensuality he'd learned in the past few weeks, noticing his effect on his cousin and smiling at it.

"Come here and sit beside me." When Sesshomaru obeyed his cousin pushed him down onto the mattress, face down and began to bind his wrists to the headboard. "Does this bother you, being tied up like this?" Before Sesshomaru could speak he slid a finger between his legs, to feel the wetness spreading from his cunt. "Or do you like it, does it arouse you?"

"Both. It bothers me because it arouses me. But we both know the only thing really holding me here is my consent."

"Yes, you could use your venom to free yourself easy enough." Karritarous patted him on the ass. "Get up to your knees." Once Sesshomaru had obeyed he took a bar about three feet long and tied the Taiyoukai's ankles to either end of it, and pushed him back down so his forehead was touching his pillow. He'd prepared him a few hours earlier, and put a metal plug into him to keep him stretched out, now he removed it and pushed his way into the younger youkai. Karritarous had been careful that way, it never hurt Sesshomaru, but he felt humiliated by the fact that being restrained, dominated and used aroused him, satisfied him sexually in a way he'd never experienced before – he'd mostly avoided sexual thoughts and feelings except when he was in heat. And then he'd used one of a handful of fantasies he'd developed over the years. Admittedly when he thought about it they'd involved his imagined lover taking the initiative, and taking charge, but Sayaro was one of the few females who was dominant to her mate, and she'd been a teacher to him. The idea of her acting submissively in anything, at least with him seemed entirely alien – she was one of the few who didn't change her treatment of him once he became Taiyoukai, in name, or in fact.

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Kagome got into a routine over the next four months, generally she spent two weeks back in the Sengoku Jidai, and then between two and three weeks at home depending on how many shards she gathered. The others usually managed to get one or two shards without her while she was working on her magic, and even though Inuyasha grumbled about how much time she spent there, he never really put up much of a fight about it. Sess had been more persistent in spending time with, or around her, unless she gave him orders to do something else, and after a while she realised that he was trying to push her into giving him orders of one sort or another. She was growing used to having him hovering around her, waiting for orders, and it came to seem normal for him to serve her family at meals, and then join them with his own meal, and for him to sleep in her bedroom, on the futon they'd pulled in, unless he'd annoyed her.

One day, just before she went back to the Sengoku Jidai Kagome realised that the Taiyoukai would probably be in heat in that time – and that ordering him to sleep with someone to get pregnant was as much rape as ordering him to sleep with her would be, just by proxy, rather than directly. But he needed to have an heir, and she didn't want him to take a mate who he'd have to leave when she made her claim formal. Reluctantly she decided that she would only visit him after his heat would be over, and she told her family that she might be staying for a month or more this time. She'd been reading about sensing magic through scent, rather than through vision, and she wanted to try that out, as well as try some magical tests for pregnancy. She'd talked with Sess about how his body changed when he was pregnant, so she'd have an excuse to visit him in the Sengoku Jidai; she could pretend to be as much of an expert as existed on hermaphrodite physiology.

Inuyasha had been delighted that she'd decided to stay for a month, less so when he learned that she intended to visit Sesshomaru towards the end of her time there. For all that he now knew Sesshomaru was the one who had raised him his mother had taught him to believe that his brother had hated him, and it had been his father who took care of him, and he was finding it hard to forget that, or the number of times Sesshomaru had tried to take Tetsusaiga from him. Kagome had had to remind him quite pointedly of who had really raised him, and that Sesshomaru might like to see him without fighting. If she had to she would have used their link to force him to obey, but she managed to persuade him with simple reason. And she used a new technique to scry for him, in a fire she had lit in her silver bowl, then on the night he was alone she spoke to him, through a nearby flame.

"Sesshomaru, I wish to visit you, with your brother and our people. If you need an excuse you can claim that I am as much of an expert on hermaphrodites as exists. Now tell me, just say the words, I will hear you – have you started your heat yet?"

"I just entered heat yesterday." Sesshomaru was even wearing a woman's kimono and he'd painted his face to match it, although his hair was still loose – fortunately Kagome was the only person who could see it. "It usually lasts two weeks in total for me, and then, two weeks later I bleed, for a week."

"I see. We should be there in fifteen to seventeen days." Kagome let the communication linkage break and killed the flames in her bowl, washing it out before going to sleep.

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Sesshomaru woke slowly the next day. His healing abilities meant that he didn't have any physical aches from the night before, but his memories disturbed him. Karritarous had introduced the idea of hurting him as part of sex during the third month they lay together, but he'd kept it to bites, scratches and bruises – things that Sesshomaru half thought would occur during normal sex too, although not in as one-sided a way as they happened here. Last night his cousin had told Sesshomaru to dress as a woman, and then, after he'd overpowered Sesshomaru, he'd used a knife to first cut the kimono off his body, and then to carve designs on him. But it wouldn't prevent Sesshomaru conceiving, and that was all he had thought to bargain for.

He shivered and got up, dressing and seeing to his duties as Lord of the Western Lands, duties which were being fulfilled better than they ever had before since he contacted Karritarous about his heir. Sesshomaru just hoped that he would get pregnant this time, so he would only have to put up with his cousin's touch for another year. He'd made sure that standing orders were for Kagome and her people to be permitted entry and given quarters should they choose to visit, so there wasn't anything to do in preparation for his master's visit. He half wished there was, it would take his mind off his position for a moment.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Of course there was something else that would distract him equally effectively. Sesshomaru lifted Rin into his arms when she ran to him.

"Rin. Have you been enjoying yourself?" There were only a couple of children Rin's age in the castle, and Sesshomaru knew they'd been happy to have another playmate. And at least one of the maids was pregnant, heavily so, he hadn't caught scent of any others but he knew that if he conceived this time his child would have a companion close in age.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama. Akiko says she's going to have a little baby brother or sister. Where do babies come from?"

"An adult female bleeds from between her legs on a regular basis – once a month for humans, twice a year for youkai. It doesn't hurt too much, and it isn't a sign of damage. If she lies with a male between one and two weeks before she starts bleeding, and they touch in certain ways then the male can plant his seed in her. The baby grows inside her, and comes out from the place between her legs." Sesshomaru bit his lip, hoping that he hadn't confused Rin or gone into detail she wasn't ready for. "Do you understand me?"

"Rin understands Sesshomaru-sama. But how does Sesshomaru-sama know it doesn't hurt when we bleed?"

"There is actually a third gender, much rarer than male or female. I am of this gender, but I think of myself, and I'm legally, male because it is more convenient. The third gender is hermaphrodite, which means I am male and female. I bleed from between my legs twice a year just like a female would, and babies can grow inside me. Would you like a little brother or sister?"

"Yes, Rin will be a good older sister. Is Sesshomaru-sama carrying a baby now?"

"I don't know. I hope so." He let Rin go as he spoke, sitting down on a nearby chair. "Kagome-sama is coming to visit; she might be able to tell if I'm with child. I'll know in a month or so anyway, and that's when a female's scent changes, a month into pregnancy."

"Oh, who put the baby into Sesshomaru-sama then?"

"My cousin Karritarous. He won't be able to take our child from me, because he isn't my mate. But if I can't be Taiyoukai and my child isn't an adult then Karritarous will protect him and act in his name." Sesshomaru quickly changed the subject and happily listened to his daughter babbling about her day before he started her on her lessons.

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	5. Chapter 5

"Hello, I am the Miko Kagome, this is Inuyasha, brother to your lord, and these are our companions. I believe your lord has left instructions regarding us." Kagome had just walked up to the youkai guarding the entrance to Sesshomaru's castle, and coolly introduced herself.

"Yeah, we're supposed to show you in to see him, and announce your presence." The guard sounded a little nervous, perhaps because she was wearing her power like a cloak.

"Then do so." Kagome knew she sounded even colder, and she was taking a perverse pleasure in scaring him.

"Y-yes Miko-sama." The guard led them to an audience hall, and glanced inside, to check that Sesshomaru was there, an unnecessary precaution since Kagome knew that he was there, settling some sort of dispute between two of his followers.

"Miko-sama, Sesshomaru-sama is busy at the moment, do you mind waiting until he's finished with the lords he's dealing with at the moment?"

Inuyasha seemed about to make some sort of objection, but Kagome sent a quelling thought down their link and he settled back, remembering her orders to let him do any talking that was necessary.

"Of course not. But announce us as soon as he's finished dealing with those lords."

"Yes Miko-sama." They didn't have long to wait, Kagome had the feeling that was partly because Sesshomaru knew they were waiting, but he finished with the two lords and seemed to satisfy them in a few minutes.

"The Miko Kagome-sama, your brother Inuyasha-san and their companions are here to see you Sesshomaru-sama."

"Thank you Jaro." Sesshomaru stood and walked over to pull Kagome into an embrace, burying his nose in her neck, and she reciprocated. As she drew in his scent she focused on correlating what she could sense, with what she knew about Sesshomaru's magic, trying to see if she could pull off using what was the most minor of senses for a human to totally analyse his magic. She could hear some of their audience muttering, they were surprised that the Taiyoukai of the Western Lands would greet a human as an equal.

Then the muttering changed in tone, and Kagome turned to see Inuyasha wandering towards a box set on a pillar for some reason. She didn't know why it was important, but it obviously had some special meaning. Looking closer she realised there was a shield over it. Just as she was about to tell the hanyou to leave it he broke the shield and opened the box, looking curiously inside.

"Feh! It's empty. Why make all this fuss about an empty box?" Inuyasha sounded totally mystified, but all the youkai present – except Shippo and Kirara – looked shocked.

"My Lord! You cannot take this…hanyou as your mate!" It was a youkai with dark brown hair protesting, from the looks of him one of Sesshomaru's court functionaries.

"What is he talking about Sesshomaru-sama? Why would you take your brother as your mate? Isn't there some sort of law against incest?" Kagome knew that as a Miko, and one whose main contact with youkai was killing them, she could probably get away with some show of ignorance, so long as she was polite about it. Inuyasha wouldn't be polite, and his ignorance would be less excusable.

"Nearly sixty years ago I set up a shield around that box, and I said that I would only consider accepting a mate who could open it despite the shield. I thought that there would be someone capable of getting through the shield, either through pure magical strength, or through skill. And I agreed to consider anyone who could as a potential mate."

"Just consider?" Kagome made sure she sounded curious, and she sent reassurance down her link to Sesshomaru, and encourage Inuyasha to stay calm using her link to him.

"Yes, just consider. My choice of mates is a political decision as much as anything else. I've got enough of my council here. Inuyasha, you don't want to be my mate, do you?"

"No! You're my brother – and I like females, not males, or anything else."

"Good. Record this separately, note that my half-brother passed the initial screening for candidates to be my mate, unintentionally, and this is consideration of his merits and lack thereof for the position. You, argue in support of him becoming my mate, and you, argue against it." Sesshomaru seemed to pick the two youkai at random, but they settled into their rolls quickly enough.

"He's probably the best fighter currently living. He outclasses most youkai, and routinely fights Naraku." The youkai ordered to support Inuyasha's position spoke first. He had black hair and dark blue stars on each cheek.

"Yes, but that means he has duties that he could not discharge if he became Sesshomaru-sama's mate." The other youkai had amber hair, and four stripes that matched it in shade on each cheek. "And as a hanyou he would be the dominant mate. A Taiyoukai cannot take a mate knowing that the mate would be dominant." Kagome swiftly stifled any words Inuyasha wanted to voice at that little tidbit.

"So he isn't eligible. And further discussion is pointless." Sesshomaru walked over to the box, shut it, and recreated the exact same shield over it. "Kagome-san," there was a flicker of fear along their link as he used the lesser honorific, and Kagome swiftly sent him reassurance in return, "Inuyasha, my steward can show you and your people to your rooms."

"Thank you. I'll need to talk with you privately when you have time. You can just send for me, but until then, with your permission I'd like to speak with your healer."

"Granted." Sesshomaru responded casually, effectively dismissing them and one youkai moved forward to escort them from the room. Once Kagome had dumped her bag in her room, the best of the ones they were given, she had him lead her to the healer, the only person who knew about Sesshomaru's condition when he was a child other than Inuyasha's parents. She spent almost three hours discussing medicines, and herbs with the older woman, mostly learning what Sayaro had to teach, although she did mention the herbs that could prevent a human woman conceiving, and Sayaro told her she would try them out on some youkai females who were reluctant to have children, but whose mates wanted offspring. Kagome also mentioned that there was a faint possibility those herbs would actually prevent a woman going into heat, or showing the signs of it anyway, because they might fool the body into thinking she was pregnant, or nursing.

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Sesshomaru ordered one of his servants to bring Kagome to his bedroom once he'd finished holding court. He didn't really like the implications of that, but it was the room he had the most, and best privacy spells on, and he half wanted to make Karritarous jealous, in the hope it would make him gentler.

The Taiyoukai sat on his bed brushing out his hair as he waited for his master to arrive. It was a surprise when his brother arrived first.

"Was that true? Is a hanyou the dominant partner when a hanyou and a youkai mate?"

"Yes." Sesshomaru put his brush aside to answer Inuyasha's question. "And a Miko is dominant if she mates a hanyou. That is why Father mated my mother, but only married yours."

"You mean that for youkai a marriage is a lesser commitment than a mating?"

"A marriage is purely legal, and used mainly if one partner is human, or a Miko, a mating is a mystical bond that compels certain behaviour from both parties. One a Miko would dominate, and a human could not sustain."

"Oh. What behaviour does it compel?"

"Very little from the dominant partner, only that he protects his mate from others. The submissive partner must obey her mate – it is usually the female who is submissive – and remain faithful. Our father did not remain faithful to my mother, although he might have to yours." Sesshomaru shrugged, and then Kagome arrived, effectively ending the conversation.

"Inuyasha, I need some privacy with Sesshomaru for this, you can talk with him later." The hanyou obeyed reluctantly, but he did obey.

"Kagome-sama, what did you want to discuss with me?"

"I wanted to check if you were pregnant, and I thought you'd like to know a little about how you're going to change during your pregnancy."

"Oh, please if you know. How do you want me?"

"Lie down on your back; that will make it easier for me to check. And there's another way, to use as a cross-check." His master pulled a box out her belt pouch and tossed it down beside him. "Use this the next time you need to piss – if you have problems reading the instructions because of the type of writing then tell me beforehand."

"This Sesshomaru is perfectly capable of reading!" The Taiyoukai answered indignantly, and then blushed, lowering his eyes in shame. "Forgive my insolence Kagome-sama."

"I'm not angry Sess." Kagome gently caressed his face and let her hand wander down to his abdomen. "I can feel a new aura here, you are with child, just one and I think it's a son. But I still want you to use that," and she nodded at the box beside him, "just to satisfy my curiosity."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru paused, hoping that his next words wouldn't anger her, and unnerved by her casual shortening of his name, something she didn't seem to realise she'd done. "Might I sit up? This position is somewhat…unnerving."

"Go ahead. Do you want to know what to expect during your pregnancy, besides the usual symptoms a woman gets?"

"Please." Sesshomaru lounged on his bed, rather than sitting upright and kept his eyes cast down submissively.

"Your body is going to change. You'll grow breasts, which will naturally remain until you stop breastfeeding. And your hips will become wider, to let your child come out of you more easily, they'll revert to normal after you've given birth."

"Oh!" Sesshomaru spoke softly, glancing up through his eyelashes and licking his lips uncertainly. "Might I ask how you know this Kagome-sama?"

"Just how private will our conversation here be?"

"My privacy spells are unmatched by any other youkai – my magic is unmatched by any other youkai for that matter. This room has had my privacy spells cast upon it from when I first became Taiyoukai, layered and renewed every year since then. No one will overhear us."

"Then I will tell you that I travel between this time and one five hundred years into the future. In my time you have presented yourself to me and I learned of how pregnancy affects you then."

"Oh. Does this mean I will be known to be claimed for five hundred years and you will not be there for me?" Sesshomaru knew the desolation he felt was flowing through his link to Kagome, but he did not care, anything to make sure she would protect him, not hurt him or his.

"I gave you orders to hide the fact that you were claimed as much as you could before I left you, or at least that's what your future self told me." Sesshomaru didn't respond, but he doubted it would have made any difference, after all the few youkai who had been claimed tended to have short life spans – they were often murdered by other youkai as soon as their masters died. "He hasn't told me too much about that, or what he had to do to survive then, but I got the impression he didn't have any trouble for at least fifty years after I formally claimed him."

"Truly? And yet, you say you will leave me on my own." Sesshomaru knew he sounded pathetic, he intended to.

"I'm not entirely certain of that. I could have died in this time, and your future self could be coming to me for a reminder of some sort for all I know. I am mortal remember."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru resigned himself to being abandoned eventually, praying his master would make sure he could still take care of himself when that day came, that he wouldn't become totally dependent on her as most claimed youkai did.

"I should go. I'm sure your lover will be wondering what I'm doing in here for so long."

"Karritarous is my lover only because that was the price he demanded for impregnating me." Sesshomaru wasn't sure why he felt the need to clarify that, but he did – and realised why he had when he felt his master's shock.

"I'm sorry Sess. I wasn't really thinking of that when I gave you those orders." And Kagome let him feel how very sorry she was.

"It is your right to require me to lie with anyone you choose. At least you let me decide who should sire my child. And your decision was the one I would have made if I'd been thinking properly." Sesshomaru shrugged, to him it was Kagome's right to gift his virginity as she pleased, and he only wished she had chosen to take it herself. "With that vow I made there was no way I would have been able to find a female qualified as my mate in the timescale you gave, I was beginning to think I never could."

"Still I am sorry. Is he at least a skilled lover?"

"Yes, I was surprised how well he makes me respond to him." There seemed nothing more to say, and Kagome left then.

0

Sess smiled at the human at the door of the Velvet Collar, glancing up from beneath carefully lowered lashes. He'd started to frequent new clubs since he'd stopped pretending to be female, but he still kept to the human only clubs when he indulged the tastes his cousin had discovered and his master had developed in him. He couldn't risk letting a youkai or a hanyou see the claim mark on his chest, not with the orders Kagome had given him. And Mikos, as a rule, frequented youkai and hanyou clubs for this sort of thing, unless they were submissive – which meant he'd never end up in bed with one, as he only looked for tops for a night.

"Hello Silver. Do you want to reserve a room?" Sess had always been careful about how he indulged his taste for being dominated, at least for the last three centuries. He'd got into trouble nearly four hundred years ago, and been raped and badly hurt because he hadn't been careful enough about his choice of sex partners. It had been enough to frighten him off that type of sex for a century, and thereafter he'd insisted on a lot of safeguards, such as having the place he had sex under his control. It had also meant that he wanted a true Master, someone he could trust to protect him, even as she controlled him more than ever – and he fully expected Kagome to be that Master, because she'd been so good at it before.

"Please. And I need to change." He lifted the bag he was carrying with his choice of gear for the night, although it didn't include a collar. The policy of this club was for all subs without a Master to wear a plain leather collar provided by the club. Masters were required to put a more ornate and noticeably different collar on their slaves, and if a top was just here on a date with a sub, before they'd decided to make any true commitment the top was required to put a tag on the collar. That way it was easy for a top to tell whether or not a sub they wanted was free on that night, or might be free on another night.

"Of course. I take it you want a standard room?" The bouncer led him into a small private chamber where Sess began unselfconsciously stripping after handing money to the human.

"Yes. And could you get me a collar as close to this shade of blue as you can." He'd pulled out two leather wrist-bands, both in royal blue and handed them over to be matched. While the human was occupied Sess pulled on velvet trousers in blue-green along with leather ankle-bands matching the wrist-bands and a leather belt in the same colour, finally fastening a purse to his belt containing some money and a name tag in case he found a top. The human handed the wrist-bands back to Sess, and fastened – and locked – the collar he'd found around his neck as the youkai put them on his wrists.

"You've got room fifteen. Here's the key." Sess took it and put it in his purse for the contingency that he needed it. One of the things he liked about this club was that it was monitored very well, and the rules were enforced. He didn't like the fact that he had to keep up an illusion to hide the fact that he was anything but full male with his lovers, but it was something he had grown used to and accepted.

"Thank you." Sess slipped past the human into the club, carefully not looking directly at the semi-displayed sex scenes. He made sure that none of his body language showed the self-confidence, almost arrogance, he'd needed to display among youkai before his master had claimed him and immediately after she'd left him, or in business, instead his every movement spoke of his submission to the will of another.

As always, doms and dommes flocked to him, drawn by his beauty and delicate features. Sess assessed them from beneath lowered lashes, responding quietly to their advances, and flirting without making any promises, or even appearing to promise anything. When he'd made his decision of who he wanted he stepped just a little closer to him.

"This one has arranged for a room to be available, should you find that pleasing."

"Very much so. But not just yet, we have things to decide first." The human casually stroked Sess' long hair back. "Do you have a tag for that collar so everyone will back off?"

"Yes sir." Sess offered it to him, and lifted his head just enough for him to fasten it onto the leather band.

"'Silver' eh. A fitting name. You will address me as sir, or Tendo-san."

"Yes sir." It didn't surprise Sess when the human wanted to show him off, having him kneel by his seat while they made the arrangements. Sess got what he wanted, the human would not break any bones, or do anything that might scar him in any way, other than that he was happy to find out just what the human preferred as it happened. Although he did reserve the right to use a safe word of course – not that he would have that right with his real master.

Three hours later he left the club with a satisfied smile on his face.

0

Kagome noticed the way Sesshomaru's cousin watched her, resentment in his eyes, every time she was anywhere near the Taiyoukai. She quickly realised that he was jealous, and that Sesshomaru was deliberately using her to provoke that jealousy. He kept on spending time with her alone, and made sure that he looked happy afterwards, and she was the only person he was ready to touch casually. She didn't particularly like it, but she still felt guilty for forcing Sesshomaru into a relationship he didn't want, so she let him use her – until she sensed him in pain, for no apparent reason, or at least no good reason.

She found it easy enough to get into Sesshomaru's bedroom, cloaking her presence from everyone with her magic. Sesshomaru was curled on the bed, naked, cradling a broken left arm to his chest and watching his cousin nervously. It hardly looked as if they'd been doing anything too unusual, but there were restraints lying about, obviously recently used, and even in one case still fastened to Sesshomaru's ankle.

His cousin was standing only a few paces away, and had a shocked look on his face. He seemed to be stammering apologies, or something.

"Why did you do that? I thought you knew it's too dangerous to do anything that won't heal before anyone sees me?" Sesshomaru sounded mystified – and his only concern was that his injury couldn't be hidden, not that he'd been hurt. Kagome masked her growing anger swiftly.

"I'm sorry, it's just you spend so much time with that Miko. Don't I satisfy you?" There was a note of jealousy in the other youkai's voice, and Kagome realised that Sesshomaru's ploy had backfired badly.

"She doesn't hurt me. And you didn't negotiate for exclusive."

"I didn't think I'd need to with a virgin." He stepped forward laying one hand along the side of Sesshomaru's face. "Do you really find what I do with you that unpleasant? You seemed to enjoy it well enough. And what is that Miko to you?"

Kagome could see that Sesshomaru was getting nervous now for some reason and some things that had puzzled her about the CD he'd prepared for her in the future, the references to the D/s scene, fitted into place for her. If he was uncomfortable with his sexual tastes at the moment she wasn't going to let anyone force him to confront them, and she dropped her illusion.

"The only healer who knows anything about how pregnancy will affect his body."

"And the one who suggested I carry a child myself, rather than wait for a mate to come up to my standards." Sesshomaru shifted, pulling away from the hand on his face and leaning slightly towards Kagome.

"You aren't having sex with him?"

"When a Miko has sex with a youkai it is rape. The party doing the raping varies, but it is rape." Kagome knew that she sounded a bit moralistic, to say the least, but that was how she felt even if she was increasingly tempted by Sess in her time, and Sesshomaru in this. "Here, this should help your arm." And she offered Sesshomaru some of the blood he'd donated in the future. Sesshomaru reached for it hesitantly, looking at her with a question in his eyes, but trusting her totally. It was his cousin who moved to grab the bottle from Kagome's hand.

"What is this? Are you trying to get control of him in some way?"

"No, I'm not. It's blood from a youkai I know who heals even faster than your Taiyoukai, cleansed of the family influence. I did intend it for Kouga, when we take those Shikon shards from his legs, but Sesshomaru-sama can use it instead. I can get more."

"Here then." The youkai opened the bottle himself, and solicitously helped Sesshomaru to drink it. He immediately smiled with relief.

"I should be healed enough to be able to hide it by tomorrow. Kagome, was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Not really. But we have to leave tomorrow, and I wanted to check if there was anything you needed to know before we set out."

"Will I see you again before I give birth?"

"Certainly. But if wearing male attire becomes uncomfortable you should consider switching to female attire. It is more suited to how your body changes during pregnancy."

"How will his body change?" Kagome noted that Sesshomaru didn't seem to mind when they talked over him, but she wasn't sure exactly why that was.

"At the moment he is a hermaphrodite who looks mostly male, with the addition of female genitilia. When he gives birth he'll be a hermaphrodite who looks mostly female with the addition of male genitilia. The rate of change varies, so I'm not sure when his body will be more female than male."

"But his face won't change?"

"No, actually your face is rather androgynous Sesshomaru-sama. But even if it wasn't only your body would change."

"I see. But as long as I exercise I won't get too out of condition?"

"You'll need to gain at least seven pounds in total, but you'll return to your pre-pregnancy state as soon as you stop breast-feeding your son."

"I see. Thank you for the information. But you can go now." Kagome smiled and obeyed the implicit command.

0

J R1

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J R1Begin Part 6 3881 


	6. Chapter 6

Sess curled at his master's feet, brushing his hair out while she read more about modern youkai culture. He'd noticed she'd been avoiding the parts about sexuality, more specifically the parts about sexual submissiveness, but she had started reading one of the articles this time. He'd been careful to make sure she'd have to read one of the tamer articles before she read anything specifically about him. He didn't think she'd be too angry with him about his tastes, but he'd rather not answer questions about them if he could avoid it. Even now he was still a little ashamed of his preferences.

"Do people really enjoy that sort of thing Sess?" Kagome's hand reached down to stroke his hair as she asked the question. It never occurred to her that she was treating him like a pet, or a lover, being so casually intimate with him.

"Yes Kagome-sama. Some people are submissives, and others dominants. Which did you feel more drawn to if it does not offend you?"

"Dominant. If that scares you I am sorry, but I promise I won't force myself on you."

"No, it doesn't scare me. I'm submissive, and if you are dominant then I can belong to you. If you wish it we could visit one of the clubs I frequent, with you as my top. That way, you can see the scene in action yourself, and find out whether you do want to try that form of sex or not." Sess wasn't sure whether he wanted her to answer yes or no, but he did know that there was plenty of time for her to make up her mind. Nine months at least, as she'd told him that he'd just got pregnant back in the Sengoku Jidai.

"You mean so I can see if I enjoy dominating you sexually, don't you? Sess, you are incredibly beautiful and desirable, but sleeping with you would be rape. I know that the claim I made on you, even if I didn't intend to means you can't say no to me, and that would make it rape." She'd put her laptop aside to argue with him and knelt beside him on the floor, something he felt was totally wrong.

"Kagome-sama, you were the only person who was ever willing to look beneath the defences I threw up to avoid being hurt. I think I fell in love with you during that conversation where you found out it was Inuyasha's mother who altered me, and helped me to get my brother back, even as a friend." Sess moved to lay his head on her lap and nuzzle at her hand, pleading with her to pet him without words.

"Maybe," Kagome spoke as she gave in to his unspoken urgings and scratched around his ears, stroking his hair too, "but I still feel as if sleeping with you would be taking advantage of you, abusing you, and I'm not sure how long I'm going to feel that way."

"But if you change your mind about that you will consider taking me to your bed?"

"Yes, if I stop considering lying with you rape I will consider doing so." With that Kagome stood and returned to her laptop.

0

The inu youkai shivered in his bonds. The Miko had challenged him, and she had enough youkai personally loyal to her that he'd had no choice but to meet the challenge personally. He'd issued the standard conditions before her challenge, every ruling youkai knew what those conditions were, that she name a youkai as her heir, and that she would not bear a hanyou child should she win. They'd both known that if she lost he would have to kill her, and he'd looked forward to that while he hoped he could win. But he'd proven himself to be weak, and when she proved herself victorious had agreed to become her consort in exchange for his life, even knowing she'd probably cripple him in some way so he couldn't act as a standard for rebellion against her.

She'd used her magic to knock him out, and then she must have had someone take him to her new bedroom, once his, strip him, and chain him up. She might not even need to mutilate him considering that he could hear one of the guards outside the door telling another that Sesshomaru, the once Taiyoukai of the Western Lands, had a female's parts between his legs, as well as a male's. He'd always kept his bedroom pretty sparse, a heavy bed, and a whole wall devoted to his bookcase were the only two luxuries, and he'd been chained on his back, exposing his stomach and throat, with his arms stretched above his head, the chain between his wrists passing through the ornate iron headboard and each ankle chained to one of the foot posts.

The Miko stalked into the room, dismissing her guards as she did so, replacing them with a ward of some sort. She slid her hand between his spread legs, exploring his genitilia and sliding one finger into the part of him that was like a bitch.

"How interesting. Are you a virgin here?"

"Y-yes." Her other hand moved too fast to see, slapping him across the face.

"You will address me as mistress, or Kagome-sama. Do you understand?"

"Yes mistress."

"Now, tell me, does anyone know about this?"

"My father did mistress, and his second wife."

"No one else, no other lovers? Doesn't your scent give it away?"

"No mistress, I haven't ever taken a lover, and I use a spell to hide the scent changes when I go into heat."

"I see, drop the spell and never use it again. Why do you feel you have to hide what you are?"

"Because I'd never be able to rule if youkai knew, mistress."

"I was planning to cut these off," her hand cupped his balls gently, "after all I can't risk getting pregnant with a hanyou child, but now I don't think I need to bother. Oh, I can't leave you fertile," and he felt the magic in his balls, doing something he didn't understand, although he knew he'd never sire a child, "at least not with females, but you won't be a threat after I have one of my followers get you pregnant. When will you next be in heat?"

"Four months time mistress."

"Plenty of time to decide who I'll reward in that way. And guess what – I'll even name one of your children as my heir. Sesshomaru, hmm, that name is far too long for a pet – you'll answer to Sess in the future, and nothing else. Do you understand?"

"Yes mistress." The instant he'd answered Kagome moved to kneel above his face, lowering herself down onto him.

"Satisfy me. Incidentally, a slave only attains release when his master gives permission." Sesshomaru, Sess, immediately began licking his master; bringing her to completion as quickly as he could.

"And you say you have had no lovers." Kagome murmured the words in surprise, but quickly moved on to what she planned next. She sat astride his hips, lowering herself down again, this time guiding him into her body, and rocked back and forth until she came just from the friction.

"I will expect more participation from you in the future, but for now..." She walked away for a second, bending to pick something up. She fitted a harness of some sort around her waist, and then she slid a double-ended dildo inside herself, buckling it in place.

"W-what are you going to do with that mistress?" Another slap across his face, this one hard enough that he cut his lip on his teeth.

"You do not speak unless I give you permission, or ask you a question. I won't punish you this time, because you didn't know, but in future I will. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes mistress."

"Good." And with that Kagome thrust into him, taking him like a bitch. She paused at one point, raking her nails down his chest as she came, but the thing that scared him most was how pleasant it felt. His cock was leaking, and he knew that as soon as his master gave permission...

"You can come now." He spurted his seed all over her, and himself. "I can't let you come inside me for at least a month, not without risking getting pregnant." For some reason his master explained her actions as she slid a cushion beneath his hips, raising them and gathered his seed to prepare him to be entered in his other hole.

He cried out as he was entered, despite the preparation it still hurt, and when he felt a sense of spreading pleasure replace the pain he was shocked. He felt himself harden again with a sense of disbelief, only heightened when he came again at his master's command. She used some sort of spell to clean them both up, then she lay down on top of him and let herself sleep.

0

"You really fantasised about me raping you?" Kagome knew her shock and disbelief were conveyed by her voice. "And you wrote this at my orders?"

"Yes Kagome-sama. It was the first time I ever wrote a fantasy of mine down. And it wouldn't exactly be rape in the circumstances described. The first paragraph mentions that I agreed to be your consort, and sex is integral to that role."

"But why would I order you to do something like that?" Kagome couldn't understand why she would ask Sess to write about his sexual fantasies, he'd been embarrassed enough that she knew he'd taken a lover, and why, even though it was by her order. And even more embarrassed to admit that his lover made him respond well to his touch.

"Because you saw that I am submissive, even if I did not realise it, and you wished to guide me to recognise and accept that in myself." Sess sounded sincere, and belief in his words pulsed along their link.

"But this can't have been the first fantasy you ever had. What were your earlier sexual fantasies like?" If they had Sess in an equally submissive role then Kagome might begin to believe he was always sexually submissive.

"They mostly featured Sayaro. The very first fantasy I had was when I first came into heat. She told me that masturbating would help me with the urges that came with being in heat. And she gave me a dildo to use, made from polished wood. When I tried it out I imagined that she'd told me she would show me how to deal with the urges of heat. That she'd ordered me to undress in the healing rooms and pushed me down onto a bed, before using that dildo on me, and that she made me eat her out afterwards. I was very skilled at that by then, my father's new wife had made me do it for her often enough when he was away."

That definitely qualified as putting Sess in the submissive position, and it had overtones of forced sex as well, the entire description supported the idea that Kagome hadn't had anything to do with making Sess submissive, that he was naturally that way. "And did you ever have fantasies involving other females?"

"Once, when I was about seventeen, after my uncle had tried to force me to mate one of his daughters, I imagined what my life might have been like if my father had succeeded in replacing me with Inuyasha as his heir. The Taiyoukai of the Southern Lands was a female at the time, and she didn't choose a consort, a male to sire her children without becoming her mate, until I was thirty or so. It was well known she preferred her bed mates female, and my father had talked about trying to get an alliance with her. He commented to his wife that I'd make a good offering in that way, after they altered me, because they gave me female parts as well as male, and I look feminine. There are some spells that can be used to decide which partner in a mating is dominant, but they take both partners casting with the same purpose, or I could have been given to her as a consort, and I used to fantasise about that."

"Why would you co-operate in a spell that would mean you would always be submissive?" Kagome was really curious now, even if Sess knew he was submissive now, and had come to terms with it he certainly hadn't when she first met him.

"I wouldn't in real life, not then. But in my fantasies…it was an appealing thought, not to have to worry about anything myself, to be able to leave everything to my mate, and think only about pleasing her. And the lady in question had a reputation for giving her lovers a lot of freedom in some ways, my life back then was very constrained." So he always had wanted to be owned. Kagome had been having doubts about her belief that having sex with Sess would be the same thing as raping him for a while, and she was almost ready to actually try it.

"In two months, if you can get an appropriate outfit together for me I'll go with you to one of those clubs you mentioned. I hadn't really believed you when you claimed to be submissive until now."

"Why not Kagome-sama? Have I not shown sufficient deference to you?" Hurt and a hint of fear flashed along their link.

"No, let me correct that, I believed you when you said that you are submissive now, I did not believe that you always had been submissive, but now I do."

"Oh, please forgive my foolishness Kagome-sama."

"There is nothing to forgive Sess. I am sorry that I failed to make myself clear the first time."

0

Sesshomaru looked at his cousin nervously as he sat on his bed, he'd specifically requested a bedroom for two when he notified Ayiko about his intended escort for the biannual council, but he hadn't really considered the fact that he would be sleeping with Karritarous every night. Now he was having doubts about his ability to sleep in the same bed as the other youkai, who had always fucked him and left before.

"Relax, I won't hurt you, I promise." Karritarous reached out to stroke his hair with unexpected gentleness. They'd cast privacy spells as soon as they arrived out of habit as much as anything else and Sesshomaru had made sure there were no spies of any sort so their conversation was private. "And I won't play any of the games you think you shouldn't enjoy, well nothing too blatant. Now come here, I want to hold you."

Sesshomaru cautiously let himself be pulled into his lover's arms, only relaxing when it was clear that holding was all he really wanted to do at the moment. Then his cousin began pulling both of their clothes off, without ever once letting go of Sesshomaru somehow.

"What are you doing?"

"We can't sleep fully clothed." Karritarous nuzzled at Sesshomaru's hair for a moment. "Besides there's something I want to do that I can't with our clothes in the way. It might not be as arousing and satisfying for you as it is for me, or as the things you think you shouldn't want are, but I swear it won't hurt. I won't even enter you."

Sesshomaru forced an indifferent shrug. "Go ahead then. It isn't as if I can say 'no' is it?"

Although Karritarous sighed he did start to rub himself against Sesshomaru, pulling his leg up so his cock was cradled between it and his thigh. It did absolutely nothing for Sesshomaru, but that was a relief to him as much as anything else, he did not like responding to his cousin, he felt as if his body was betraying him, and this time it hadn't. Afterwards he finally managed to get to sleep.

The first meeting of the council was the next day, Sesshomaru had been the last to arrive this time, but he was reluctant to be away from his lands for too long for some reason. He had the feeling it was something to do with his pregnancy. Karritarous sat to his side when he went to the council table, in the chair that was reserved for his mate, when he chose one or his consort in this case, as he was bearing his heir in his own body.

"Sesshomaru, you cannot seriously intend to take a male mate, not when you must produce an heir. Take male lovers if you wish, but not a mate." The Taiyoukai of the Central Lands sounded almost outraged at what he saw.

"Actually I have come to the conclusion that no one will ever pass the preliminary test to be considered as my mate, well no youkai anyway. My half-brother recently visited my court, and he passed it, inadvertently. Fortunately I do not need a mate to produce an heir. The reason my father sought to disinherit me, and was so desperate to sire another heir on my mother is that I am a hermaphrodite; I have both male and female sex organs. And Karritarous is the father of my child. That I believe would make him my consort."

"Yes, but…You truly are a hermaphrodite? You never smell as if you are in heat, or bleeding. And you do not smell pregnant now." Ayiko raised two simple, logical points, sounding concerned, but smelling aroused by the thought.

"I forgot about that." Sesshomaru dropped the part of his glamour that hid the feminine scent markers from everyone and was amused to note that Karritarous immediately bristled ready to protect him. "I've been using a glamour to hide all the female scent markers in my scent since the first time I went into heat."

"I'm not surprised, you're bearing, and you still smell almost as tempting as my mate does in heat!"

"And you're still so powerful, even burning magic like that?"

"You constantly maintain that level of glamour?" There was total shock in their voices at the effect of his scent, and the revelation of just how powerful his magic truly was.

"Yes. I never realised that it was anything special, until I fond out that my cousins, who didn't have enough magic to break through what I considered a comparatively weak shield, were considered to have powerful magic of their own." Sesshomaru made certain to sound arrogant about it, not embarrassed.

"But why are you lowering your standards now?"

"I decided to choose a skilled fighter as a consort, rather than waste my time looking for a mate after Naraku tried to kill me, again. That way if he ever succeeds I'll know my son will have a regent with a vested interest in keeping him alive until he is allowed to rule in his own right – and I know I'll have a son because a Miko friend of mine did a spell to find out."

"How far are you?"

"I'm only just starting to smell pregnant now, I think I conceived about halfway through my heat." And Sesshomaru realised that he'd just told them all he was usually just finishing or just starting his bleeding time when the council met after he received sympathetic looks from every female present. "I think that is enough about my condition. Can we return to business Ayiko?"

"Of course, but now the first issue is a proposal that we hold the next meeting in your lands." Sesshomaru didn't have a chance to protest before everyone else agreed.

0

Kagome slowly dressed in the outfit Sess had found for her, black leather pants and boots – with three inch heels, and a blood red silk shirt, with a whip that she could clip to her belt, along with a black leather purse, for her money and such things. Apart from the whip there was nothing she couldn't wear in public, but apparently Sess' own choice of outfits was a bit more revealing as he wanted to change into it at the club. Sess had given her the information she needed on getting them into the club, but as she was his top she was expected to speak to the doorkeeper, and everyone else.

"Hello. I wish to book a room for later, but I'd also like to have someone watching in case I hurt my pet here from inexperience. Oh, and he needs somewhere to change."

"Are you providing him with a collar, or is this just temporary?" Kagome smiled at the bouncer's concern as they walked to a changing room.

"It's a test of sorts, I've never done anything like this before so I want to find out if I like it or not. I think an amber collar would look well with his eyes." She frowned at Sesshomaru as he stripped, his eyes cast down submissively. "At least if it won't clash with his outfit for tonight."

"No Kagome-sama it will not clash with my outfit."

"Ah, and do you have any particular requirements for your room?"

"I want to be able to chain him to the bed, and I want to use a strap-on to take him with."

"A standard room will do for that, and as for having someone watching you could get one of our employees for that, I'd recommend one of the ones wearing a white leather whip if you want him to intervene if necessary. Do you have a tag for him?"

"Yes." Sess had put the tag in Kagome's purse and she pulled it out now.

"Here's the collar, and the key to your room, number eighteen. Before you leave you'll have to get me to remove the collar, but you don't need the key to lock it on."

"Thank you." When Kagome turned to Sess she smiled in pleasure and surprise. He was barefoot, although he'd fastened light steel bands around his ankles and he wore just a thin linen wrap around his waist, reaching just mid thigh on him, and left open up his left thigh. Above his waist he was naked, but he had fastened bands of steel around his wrists to match those around his ankles. He was displaying her claim marking, and it gave Kagome a sense of pleasure that her soon to be lover was declaring that she owned him for everyone to see. Not that anyone would understand she thought as she fastened the collar around his neck.

"What are those for?" Kagome nodded towards the chains Sess was holding in his right hand.

"I wasn't sure if you would want me on a leash, or hobbled, or anything like that. These are in case you do Kagome-sama."

"I don't. You are mine, and I hardly require physical bonds to prove it." She reached out and laid her hand over his heart. "This proves it quite adequately I would think."

"To those who can recognise it Kagome-sama." Sess bowed his head as he knelt to put the chains away, and he followed a step behind Kagome as she walked into the club.

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J R1

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J R1Begin Part 7 2415 


	7. Chapter 7

Sess knelt at Kagome's feet as she sipped from a glass of red wine. The Miko stood by the bar with one hand on his neck radiating self-confidence and assurance. He had been given a smaller glass of wine too, although it was just as common for slaves (those who were in a more permanent relationship) to be given a saucer, or a bowl laid on the floor to drink from, and he sipped at it watching from beneath lowered lashes as unattached subs approached her only to be rejected quietly and gently.

Eventually Kagome grew tired of the chatter and jerked at Sess' hair, telling him to stand. She focused on one of the dominant employees, a human with red hair, in Japan that colouring was exotic, even if not as much so as Sess' own silver hair. Sess had asked him to top him when he first joined the club in an effort to check the facilities of the club before he used them with a dom he had never met before, and had no control over. The experience had convinced him that the precautions against a rouge dom hurting him badly were sufficient, and gave him the confidence to let one of the other guests pick him up, and he'd also established his normal boundaries for whoever it was monitored the rooms.

"What is your name?"

"Ryoga my lady, and might I ask yours?"

"Kagome. I have reserved room eighteen, show us to it Ryoga, and I have not played with my pet in this way before, so I wish you to watch us and step in if you think I am putting him at risk."

"I will do so willingly Kagome-san. He is most beautiful, as are you, so it will be a treat to watch the two of you together. I must say that you will find him very pleasing, he is most responsive." Ryoga spoke as he led the two of them through the club.

"Oh, and how is it that you know?" The edge to his master's voice made Sess a little nervous, and he could feel her slight anger.

"When he first joined the club he had me top him. It's fairly common among new subs, at least the cautious ones, as a way to check the facilities and establish their limits. I only speak of how I found him Kagome-san." By now they'd reached the room and Kagome unlocked it quickly, pushing Sess inside. That was the last thing he noticed as she used her magic to knock him out.

He woke up chained to the bed, hands together above his head, and his legs chained spread open. Kagome'd put a pillow beneath his hips too, lifting them to give her easy access to him.

"Kagome-san, are you sure you wish to do this? Have you decided on a safe word for Silver to use? And do you know how far it is safe to go with him?" Ryoga seemed disturbed, and Sess could understand that. Kagome had refused to tell him what she'd planned, and that had made it more exciting, being knocked out that way had made him feel as if he'd been thrown into one of his fantasies, and he could guess which one.

"Yes, I want to do this. As for a safe word we'd decided on the name of his brother's first lover, Kikyo." It obviously hadn't occurred to Kagome that Sess should have a safe word, and there was no reason for him to in his opinion and so he hadn't brought it up, but Kagome seemed to realise that it would seem suspicious not to have one and provided it. "And you are here in case I try to go further than would be safe for him."

Reaching down Kagome picked up a whip, fairly light, but it would still hurt, and trailed the ends across his chest. She twitched it a few times, and then she actually hit him with it, hard enough that he bled from the nipple one of the tails caught. After that she moved her target further down his body, to his stomach, managing to avoid his genitals, fortunately, and arousing him in a way his scanty skirt could not hide.

Kagome stopped when she saw that, and bent to take his bleeding nipple into her mouth.

"Who do you belong to my pet?"

"You Kagome-sama."

"Good." And then she pierced his nipple, putting a silver ring into it and fastening it with magic. "Satisfy me." She pulled her clothes off and straddled his head, but made him reach up to lick at her private parts. When he'd brought her she actually sat down on his face, but swiftly recovered, and tearing off his skirt impaled herself on him. He could feel her tear inside, and realised with shock that his master had just given him her virginity, something he had never thought himself worthy to receive. He could only watch helplessly, occasionally thrusting involuntarily as his master moved above him, pleasuring them both, and doing his best to keep himself from climaxing. She was working on her fourth orgasm of the night when she realised he was biting his lip in the effort not to climax. "You can come when I do."

It was only a few seconds later that Kagome came again, and Sess came so hard that he blacked out. When he woke he found that Kagome had started to take him in the ass using a strap on, and she was being gentle about it.

"Come as soon as I do pet." After the second time he came Kagome stood and unchained him, ordering him to lick her skin clean. He obeyed and she dressed, letting him dress as well and leading him out of the club.

"Did you enjoy that Sess?" Kagome decided to question him as soon as they were out of the club, and he decided to ask a question of his own if she permitted it.

"Oh yes, it was wondrous. But did I please you?"

"Yes, I enjoyed it, more than I should have perhaps."

"Master, you are the one who taught me that it is wrong to feel guilty or ashamed about what pleases you sexually, so long as it does not hurt others. And I am more than willing to be yours totally. I have been dreaming of it for almost five hundred years."

"I see. But you're going to have to teach me that lack of guilt, before I can teach it to you in the past."

"As you desire Kagome-sama." Sess knew that he'd be sleeping in his master's bed in the future no matter how her mother felt about it.

0

Sesshomaru barely restrained himself from growling when the nearest courtier insisted on helping him stand from eating. He didn't really mind when Karritarous did something like that, after all he was carrying his cousin's child, and by default probably his heir as well as Sesshomaru's own, but just about every male youkai in his court was acting as if bearing a child made him helpless. It had started when he started showing enough that he began wearing female clothes. And it was even more infuriating because the other Taiyoukai were there to see how his people were coddling him.

"No one ever lets you do things by yourself when you're pregnant, I know what that's like, I hated it myself when I was bearing my two children." Ayiko's sympathy just made Sesshomaru feel worse, he'd seen how she managed her court during her two pregnancies, and it was only her consort who was overly attentive to her then. And no one had ever hit on her as much as he'd been hit on since he'd admitted to being a hermaphrodite.

"Yes but…until I started to show just about every unattached youkai was flirting with me, and so were all the dominant mates! And now they all act as if I was helpless!" Sesshomaru fell silent suddenly when he realised he was becoming hysterical, at least by his standards. "It is as if they forget that in the last twenty years I have only been defeated by three people even in spars, Inuyasha, Naraku and my consort Karritarous. The only reason I reduced my training when I learned I was pregnant is that I do not wish to risk miscarrying my son as my mother miscarried so many of her children. And it isn't as if I only had physical means of defending myself if I needed them."

"But you don't really use your magic that much, do you? At least not in any obvious ways, that's one reason we were all so surprised that you kept such a powerful glamour up for so long Perhaps if you actually showed them how much magical power you have in some way?"

"I'll need to find a way that wouldn't be too blatant or too explicit a threat. But I still cannot understand why they act like that. If I had actually shown evidence of needing any form of coddling that would be one thing, but this is different."

"You're the only male who doesn't act as if pregnancy is some sort of debilitating disease. And as you said your mother did miscarry many times."

"But I'm not her, I heal faster than she did, and there's no one beating me. It wasn't exactly a secret that my father hurt her, even while she was pregnant, and my hips are as wide as hers were now – and by the time I give birth they'll be wider still." The bones in his hips had been moving since he conceived, but so slowly that Sesshomaru only noticed it when he meditated for six hours or more at a stretch.

"How? I noticed that you have gained breasts as well, small, but breasts all the same."

"A hermaphrodite who appears male will, if he conceives, shift to a female appearance over the course of his pregnancy. The bones in my hips have been moving and changing since I conceived, and my milk glands have swollen while fat has deposited to form my breasts. Now, why did you say I do not act as if pregnancy were some form of debilitating disease? I was not aware you had seen me with a pregnant youkai to form such an opinion."

"While your regent's mate was pregnant, when you were eighteen. She accompanied her mate to council when she was one and a half months pregnant, and I visited for other reasons about two months later, and I stayed for two weeks. Then the next council meeting was held here. You only helped her when she needed it, if she didn't need it you let her keep her pride and deal with it herself. That was the first time I ever wanted a male, I wished you were second born, bastard born or disinherited so I could take you as my consort."

"I'd never have agreed to that, not unless I had some sort of guarantee that you wouldn't tire of me." A consort wasn't always certain to remain with a Taiyoukai, or any other ruling female, she could discard him at will unless they had some sort of legal agreement to prevent that. That was the only reason a youkai pair would choose a marriage such as humans practised, rather than a mating and even then a consort didn't have the sort of security a mate did.

"You'd have insisted on a marriage or contract even if you'd been bastard born? Or if your father had succeeded in disinheriting you?"

"While my father and his wife planned on how to disinherit me they discussed using me to form an alliance with you if they succeeded. If they had then I would have insisted on some sort of guarantee that you would not discard me. That is what I decided when I overheard them discussing possible fates for me if they had succeeded in convincing the rest of the council that my brother would be an acceptable heir."

"When did your father and his wife discuss this?" Ayiko looked, and sounded shocked and surprised. "And more importantly how did they come to let you overhear it?"

"I was good at remaining unnoticed then, I could probably pull it off now too, but I'd have to use more magic now than I did then. I was about thirteen or so, it was shortly after I first came into heat – I think they'd been hoping I'd be raped and get pregnant because I didn't have any knowledge at all of what was happening. They thought I'd be less likely to fight their replacing me with Inuyasha if I had an alternative of some sort."

"What sort of guarantee could be given? It sounds almost as if you would have demanded a mating, but that would be impossible. I only selected my consort for his skill in battle, once he got me pregnant I left him to do his duties as captain of my personal guard."

"Marriage is one way, and so is mating if you use a spell to determine the dominant mate."

"Is that possible?" Ayiko sounded shocked and disbelieving, and Sesshomaru enjoyed that reaction.

"Yes, I've been collecting obscure spells for a long time, since I was about eight and my mother died. It is a way of honouring her life. She knew a lot of that sort of spell and she taught me them, one of the ones she taught me was a way for a pair coming together as mates to make sure the partner they'd chosen beforehand would be dominant, but both mates have to cast the spell with the same dominant mate in mind when they become mates."

"Who would use that spell to willingly become the submissive mate?" Ayiko sounded disbelieving again, and Sesshomaru couldn't blame her.

"I know I wouldn't. But if the spell was more commonly known it might give ruling females a chance to take a mate, or give their consorts some more security. And I've been trying to adapt it so only one mate needs to cast it, with support from outsiders perhaps, but not successfully. Not that it matters, it was just an exercise in spell making." Sesshomaru shrugged and smiled at the older Taiyoukai as the other three touched the privacy spell around his council room.

0

"Hello Sesshomaru." Kagome smiled gently at the heavily pregnant youkai as he lay on his bed. "Why are you still here so late?" The Miko was puzzled, when she'd asked to see the Taiyoukai his guards had brought her here, not to his audience chamber, or anywhere else, and that didn't make sense to her.

"My consort has come to the conclusion that I'm too heavily pregnant to leave my bed – and he inveigled my guards and courtiers into supporting him. He only came up with this yesterday, because I've got between two and four weeks left."

"Actually you have less than a week left. I'll be here to help with the birth, and there's something else I want to do."

"What is it that you wish to do Kagome-sama?" Sesshomaru kept his eyes lowered as he spoke, and through their link Kagome sensed that he was uncertain that he had the right to question her.

"I want to modify the trigger for your alterations in form as a result of pregnancy to revert. The way it works at the moment once you've given birth your hips will start to get narrower and your breasts will start to shrink once you stop breastfeeding. I want to change that to make both of them revert to normal by an act of will and make both effects instantaneous." Kagome paused, she felt that Sesshomaru had had enough of alterations being made to his body without anyone asking his opinion or consent, but she knew that her Sess had been altered in that way. "I won't force this on you, I want you to think about the advantages, and disadvantages, and talk to me about it tomorrow, then make a decision the day after. No matter what you choose I won't be angry."

"T-thank you Kagome-sama. If I might ask what do you view as the advantages?"

"Instantaneous reversion, which would allow you to significantly change appearance – people don't connect an apparent male with an apparent female. When youkai start hiding from humans you'll be able to use this to change identities. It will also return you immediately to the condition you were in before giving birth."

"Oh, so I wouldn't suffer ill effects from cutting back on my training?"

"Not really, and I've managed to make sure it will reset your, I'm not sure what to call it, sense of self, so you won't react as if you still had breasts, or a lower centre of gravity."

"I see. Are there other advantages?"

"Not that I can think of offhand. Perhaps you'll think of some."

"I don't think I need time to consider this. I want you to make the alteration you suggested. If you think it will be useful to me, then that is all I need to know. I trust you and your judgement." Kagome was shocked by the degree of trust Sesshomaru showed in her, Sess showed that sort of trust, letting her top him in that club her first time for instance, but she hadn't expected Sesshomaru to do so yet.

"This is going to affect your mind as well as your body Sess, and I've never done this before so it might not work, or it might go wrong." Kagome felt obliged to warn her youkai about the risks before she did anything, and she felt he deserved it.

"My future self has had this spell done on him, or you would not suggest it Kagome-sama. There is no one else you could test this on, so any delay would do no good. Please Kagome-sama, just cast the spell." He was very logical about it, and Kagome finally nodded, kneeling beside him on his bed and reaching into him with her magic.

This was the most complicated use of her power she'd ever tried, she bound her magic to the magic left inside Sesshomaru and to his own inherent magic, altering the conditions, and granting him a degree of control that no natural born hermaphrodite would have. The final thing she did was reach into his mind, accessing his sensory memory and linking a time-based reset of that part of his mind to the same condition as it was in just before Sesshomaru conceived, to accompany the reversion of his body. As she withdrew from his mind Kagome noticed something else, that there was an instinct level reaction like that of a cat to being bitten on the back of the neck, one that was implanted. But it was so old that reluctantly she decided not to do anything about it, feeling that to interfere might do more harm than good.

"It is done. If you wish it you can let your hips return to normal first, immediately following the birth of your son, but that means they'll do so over nine months, and so will your breasts when they disappear. To make both disappear at once after you've weaned your son think about keeping your female figure after you've given birth. Now, show me how well you learned the breathing exercises I showed you." And from there it turned into a medical examination.

0

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth, refusing to scream. He was a warrior, and he would not be reduced to screaming merely because he was giving birth. If for no other reason than that his followers would never respect him afterwards if he did. Karritarous had gone hunting earlier and all the other males had fled at the first sign that he was in labour of course, but Kagome and Sayaro were here to help him through this, and he would not have them think less of him.

"If you feel up to it the birth would go quicker if you got up and walked about for a while." Sayaro stared at Kagome in shock at this pronouncement, but she seemed to accept the Miko's word.

Sesshomaru obediently struggled to his feet with Kagome's help, but he couldn't prevent a whimper escaping from between his teeth.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise how much it was hurting you. You hide your pain well, but you really don't have to. Childbirth hurts, and everyone knows nothing someone who's giving birth does or says can be held against them."

"Yes, for females, but I'm supposed to be a warrior."

"Females have a higher pain threshold than men in general." Kagome guided Sesshomaru in walking about the room, despite the pain. "If you want I can cast a spell to reduce the pain."

"Please, Kagome-san." Sesshomaru blushed when he realised how eagerly he'd jumped at the idea. He hated feeling so weak, but it was hurting so badly, worse than he'd ever imagined it could. He could not understand how Ayiko had been willing to bear a second child after the first time she'd given birth.

"Women in my time almost never give birth without anaesthetics, drugs, or something similar to make the pain all go away." Kagome reassured to him softly as she did something to him that made him feel as if he was floating away, totally disconnected from his body. He was aware of what was happening to him and around him, but it was as if the edges of the world were blurred, and nothing around him mattered.

"I have some herbs that I normally give females in childbirth that have a similar effect, but Sesshomaru-sama was reluctant to take them. He felt that it reduced his honour in some way, or at least that was how I interpreted his refusal Kagome-san." Sayaro had taken Sesshomaru's other arm and was helping Kagome to guide him around the room when she spoke across him to explain the lack of painkillers. Sesshomaru vowed to be less proud in the future, he knew just how foolish his refusal had been now, but he somehow couldn't muster the will to say anything. At the moment all he was capable of feeling was a vague sense of gratitude to Kagome for deadening his pain.

Her company, and assistance, in the birth of a child she had not sired on him made a total contrast to the way Karritarous, the father of his child, had gone out hunting. Mates were almost always together when the female gave birth, and a ruling female usually commanded her consort to stay by her side, so he'd been disbelieving when he learned that Karritarous had chosen to go hunting when the most powerful Miko in the Western Lands had said he was due to give birth soon. It gave him another reason to love Kagome, and a reason not to continue letting Karritarous share his bed any longer than he had to.

Suddenly he could feel again. Kagome was holding him still and urging him to squat. He obediently did so and Sayaro moved to kneel between his legs and guide his son from the womb.

"Do you want to cut the cord Sesshomaru-sama?" Normally it was the male mate, or consort who had fathered a child who cut the umbilical cord, it imbued some protection to the child in a way having someone less closely related, or to a lesser extent the mother did not. But Karritarous was nowhere near here to do his duty.

"No, Kagome-san, will you please cut the cord?" She was the one who had ordered him to bear a child, and he had the feeling her claim on him would allow her to act as the father of his son, even if she wasn't genetically.

"I'd be honoured." Sesshomaru watched as Kagome used her magic casually to cut the umbilical cord and cauterise it too. She also used her magic to clean him up and wrapped him in a blanket before handing the pup to him. "Do you have a name picked out for him?"

"Yes, Ranmaru." Sesshomaru cradled his son in the same way he'd cradled his brother when they were both younger. He knew that he still had to expel the afterbirth and he decided that until his son was weaned he'd keep his body more or less as it was. He was still in good health, and he'd managed to keep up his training even if it was at a lesser level than before.

"It's a lovely name." Sayaro stood up with the afterbirth in hand, Sesshomaru knew that she was going to send it to be cooked, and he was expected to eat it later. "You need to get clean, and then you can go to bed." As she spoke she walked over to the door and handed the afterbirth to a waiting servant, and Kagome cast more spells which cleaned him and his bed. Sesshomaru climbed into bed feeling far more exhausted than he ever expected to and put his son to his breast to soothe the pain in his abdomen.

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	8. Chapter 8

Kagome sat and waited for Sess to finish putting her hair up for her. He'd explained that this was one of the skills he'd gained to be able to serve her better, and she knew that it was important she make a good impression the first time she got involved with the modern Miko/hanyou/youkai subculture. A good impression in this case being a show of how powerful she was, how well she could use that power, and how ready to use it if she felt it necessary. She'd also learned something else about her powerbase in this time – that Sess was not the only youkai she owned, just the only one she'd formally claimed. Kouga, his pack and their descendents had all agreed to let her put a spell on them that would make them hers, if they accepted it, and it gave them safety from being claimed from anyone else. Apparently it had become something of a legend over the past five hundred years – the wolf pack sworn to the Phoenix Lady, and yet unsworn, for she never came to demand their service, nor to mark them.

And now the Phoenix Lady had been born into her true time, and come into her power. The pack had made arrangements for a great celebration, all had been cautioned not to speak to the Lady of her past exploits, and she would mark those of the pack who were ready to accept it. Kagome wasn't particularly happy about doing this, about enslaving Kouga and his descendents, but she had no choice. She was the Phoenix Lady, her insignia was known by all the Mikos, hanyous and youkai who lived, and as soon as she appeared to take her place in this strange (and to her sickening) society if she did not mark and formally claim what was hers they would be at risk. While she was but a legend out of time they had been safe, for no efforts could be made to break Kagome's claim on them, even though they did not wear her claim marking, but once she took her place in the society of her time if she did not mark the wolves other Mikos, and the hanyous had every right to attempt to overpower her claim on the wolves of Kouga's pack. And they would, because a pack of youkai who retained the sense of self-worth that had been beaten out of almost all other youkai was considered a threat. Even Sess, who'd been one of the most arrogant youkai she'd ever met, seemed to build his life and self-image around pleasing her, and that scared Kagome pretty badly.

When Sess had finished doing her hair he helped Kagome into a full western style skirt made of black silk, a black silk tunic and a black leather bodice to go over it that supported and made the absolute most of her breasts. Next he knelt and fastened a pair of black leather boots that went halfway up her thighs around her legs and offered her support as she stood testing her balance in the unfamiliar heels – just two inches, but enough to unbalance her, and make her glad she'd used a spell to cushion her feet. She wouldn't need money, but she did need her weapons, and the last task Sess had in making her ready for this was to fasten her belt around her waist, with the short sword and dagger attached and hang her bow and quiver across her body.

Only then did Sess turn to his own toilette, dropping his glamour totally and wrapping an amber linen wrap around his waist, fastening it with a red jade brooch at the left hip, and tying a red silk cord around his waist, letting the ends hang down his right hip. Kagome had commissioned a collar for Sess after she gave him her virginity, and the arrival of the rose gold piece of jewellery had been the deciding factor in the timing of her first appearance here. She'd mastered her powers enough to hold rank enough that she could avoid much of the politics by the time Sesshomaru gave birth back in the Sengoku Jidai, and she had an additional excuse, in that she was sworn to travel back to that time as much as she had to until Naraku was destroyed. Kagome bit her lower lip, only just realising something she should have seen when Sess first came to her.

"What about Inuyasha? Is he marked as mine, or has he died sometime in the last five hundred years?"

"Neither, you freed him from your claim after Naraku, but you left a gaes on him and he could not come to you as I could until you chose to reintroduce yourself to our society. He is one of the guests at the party held in your honour, in part because he has been a friend to Kouga's pack since youkai lost their dominance. He is also the head of the family that adopted my daughter fifty years ago, after I was raped by American servicemen."

"He took a mate then?"

"Yes, and he is happy with her. I am sorry if that offends you." Sess was being very careful, eyes cast down to the ground and no hint of aggression in his body language.

"Of course not." Kagome reached out to scratch behind Sess' ears in reassurance. "But did he find another hanyou, or did he marry a human?"

"Neither, he mated a low ranking inu youkai, one who loved him, and whose status could only be improved by involvement with him, even if his mother was a Miko. Their children are still considered hanyou though. So long as one part in eight of a hanyou's blood is human, or one part in eight youkai, they are considered hanyou, less human blood than that makes them full youkai, less youkai blood makes them full human."

"I see, so Inuyasha's children could marry or mate who they chose, but if they all chose full youkai his grandchildren would have had to marry humans for their children to be considered hanyou?"

"Yes, they would have. If hanyous had been held in as much contempt by that time they would probably have married youkai, and eventually merged back into the youkai clans, but hanyous had gained some status, and come out of hiding a bit by the time his children were adult, and they mostly found themselves hanyou mates. A few of the grandchildren found human mates, but names would mean nothing to you, would they?"

"No, not now, but I might learn them later. Shall we go to join our hosts?" They'd arrived at the compound earlier, because they could hardly travel through Tokyo dressed the way they were.

"If that is your wish." Sess obediently followed Kagome when she told him that it was.

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Sess knelt beside Kagome as she stood waiting for people to arrive so they could be introduced to her. Kouga had been ecstatic to see her again, he'd gone into barely restrained raptures, despite that his mate was there and watching him. Ayame had been surprisingly accepting about that, but then Sess had seen how much Kagome had done to protect their pack even before she'd cast that spell – and it had been Kagome who officiated at Kouga and Ayame's mating.

For political reasons they'd had to invite Sayaru, the highest ranking Miko in Tokyo at the moment – although that would almost certainly change once his master came into her full power – and she was the first to arrive.

"Sayaru-sama, this is the Phoenix Lady, Kagome-sama." Kouga was carefully submissive and self-effacing, a skill all youkai had learned, often painfully, in the last five hundred years.

"Kagome-san. So you are the legendary Phoenix Lady. My congratulations on the size of your retinue. No other has a pack so large and so loyal. And yet I have seen no evidence of your great power."

"I would think the mere fact that a spell I cast five hundred years ago has remained intact and required no maintenance whatsoever was evidence enough of my potential power, even if I do not yet have, or rather control, it all." Sess smiled in pleasure as his master fielded the subtle challenge deftly. "I do thank you for the compliment though. I intend to mark all of them tonight, if they consent. If they do not of course they will no longer be able to claim my protection."

"Of course. But you do realise you may need to be…harsh to keep them under control now."

"I think I'll be able to control them, but if I do have problems I won't hesitate to come to you." Kagome glanced over Sayaru's shoulder and Sess bit his lip to control his pleasure as he realised that his master had found a diplomatic way of getting rid of the sadistic Miko. "But there are others waiting to meet me, and it is my duty to greet them."

"Of course. We will talk later, I must assess your skill and power to determine your current rank among us."

"As you wish. You don't need to introduce Inuyasha Kouga. Hello, Inuyasha – will you introduce me to your mate?"

"It is very good to see you again Kagome. This is Meiran, I met her shortly after Naraku's death. You'd managed to convince me that there was no shame in my being hanyou by then, so I left the Shikon no Tama in your charge."

"It's as well that you decided to stay hanyou that was one of my main motivations in convincing you of that. I learned about this society just before you found about that you were informally adopted by your brother." Kagome petted Sess' hair and the youkai purred, rubbing his head on her thigh. The Mikos found it amusing when youkai acted like animals, as long as it wasn't in a dangerous, or disgusting way – purring and rubbing his head against his master was perfectly safe for Sess, and it would prove to any Miko watching that his master knew how to control him.

"But you never said anything about it. I won't question your reasons, but sometimes I wish I'd known. If I or mine can aid you in any way you have only to call us, you do know that?"

"Yes, I have known that for a long time. My compliments on the beauty of your mate."

"Thank you Kagome-sama." The red haired youkai spoke quietly with downcast eyes. "If I might presume it would be my honour to assist you in adapting to modern society among those who still honour a Miko's powers. I realise I am not of high enough caste to be anything but a servant to you, but if I can serve you in anyway I would be grateful for the chance to do so. It was your actions that allowed me to improve my status by becoming my lord Inuyasha's mate."

"I appreciate that, and I might need to accept your offer. Thank you." Sess more or less tuned out the rest of the greetings she made focusing instead on leaning up against his master and enjoying the feel of her petting him.

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Sesshomaru watched Karritarous warily from his bed, holding his son against him, where the male couldn't touch or hurt him. He wasn't sure why, but he really didn't want his cousin anywhere he had a chance to hurt Ranmaru. Involuntarily he growled as his consort approached a bit too close for his taste, and the other froze.

"Sesshomaru-sama, you know that I need to feed our son my blood if we want him to grow up healthy and strong." Karritarous was trying to sound reasonable, but Sesshomaru was in no mood to listen to reason. The father of his child had been off hunting while he'd been giving birth, his master Kagome had done his duties for him, including offering her blood for his son's second feeding as Karritarous had still been out hunting when Ranmaru needed to feed again. This despite Karritarous forcing him to stay in bed when he thought Sesshomaru was in his last month of pregnancy, and managing to inveigle his guards and courtiers into keeping him there for two full weeks after he'd given birth, even though Kagome's spells rendered that unnecessary.

"You have shown no evidence whatsoever of caring about our child prior to this, why should I believe this sudden concern of yours?" Sesshomaru had found himself perversely grateful in a way that he had been confined to his bed in the past two weeks, it allowed him to feed his son from his own blood, and that of various of his guards as needed, but he was even more grateful that, with the exception of his brother, his master's companions had remained at his castle, and even his brother had returned a week ago after delivering his master to the Bone-Eaters Well. "I might almost prefer feeding my son on the blood of my hanyou brother, rather than yours. He is young enough that the hanyou blood would not enslave him, given often enough it would be closer to adoption, and it would give him much more magic and other strength than you could dream of offering."

"You cannot be seriously considering having your brother take my place and adopt your son. If for no other reason than that he would not be an acceptable regent. Besides it smacks a bit too much of incest."

"I adopted him in the exact same way. One reason we used to fight so much was that he'd associated my actions with our father, and our father's actions with me." Sesshomaru couldn't see what was so bad about having Inuyasha adopt his son to some extent, after all the hanyou was incredibly powerful, both physically, and potentially magically if he ever bothered to learn how to use his innate abilities.

"That makes it seem even worse. Please Sesshomaru, I do care about our son, I just hadn't realised he would be born so soon, and I'd heard that for the first few weeks it was best to let the mother bond with infant youkai. I don't know much about babies, and I wanted to have a chance to learn a bit more about how to take care of Ranmaru before I approached him." Karritarous inched nearer, holding out his hands to show that they were empty and carefully not trying to touch his son. Sesshomaru found himself reluctantly considering his cousin's arguments, considering Karritarous' preferences it was no surprise he knew nothing of children. He wasn't exactly certain why his instincts were screaming at him to keep the male away, his cousin had done nothing to warrant such distrust – but his father had. Inutaisho had once commented to his Miko wife that things would be easier if he'd just broken his elder son's neck as he'd wanted to do when he saw how feminine Sesshomaru was – and the child in question had been listening from a shadowed corner.

And Ranmaru looked as feminine as his mother, although he was thankfully full male.

"You may touch him and give him your blood. But he is to remain in my arms; I do not know that you are capable of holding him correctly if nothing else." Sesshomaru backed down, and even came up with an excuse not to hand his son over to his cousin. Karritarous just laid a gentle hand on Ranmaru's cheek and slit a finger open with a claw before sliding it deftly into the infant's mouth.

"I also got a bit of practise in on that maid's child; I didn't want to risk hurting my own son." Sesshomaru realised he must have shown his surprise, and when Ranmaru slept he laid the child aside to respond to his cousin's advances.

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Kagome finally took her seat, no her throne, for the claiming ceremony. She was going to have to claim every last youkai in Kouga's pack today, all five hundred of them, and mark them too, or they would be at risk from the other Mikos and the hanyous who resented their special status, a status that was being stripped from them today. Sess knelt at her feet, her hand tangled in his hair controlling him and making it obvious that he shared her bed, as did the marking on his chest, over his heart. She'd discussed the question of how and where to mark her wolves with him and with Kouga prior to this, as different placements implied different levels of trust and status for the claimed youkai when they were claimed. And the other consideration was how much energy she could afford to expend on each youkai.

In the end they'd decided on the inside of the left wrist, indicating that they were her servants, but had little to no direct contact with her for most of the youkai, at the base of the throat, indicating a steward, someone Kagome trusted to manage some aspect of her affairs for Kouga and Ayame, and where the neck met the left shoulder for ten youkai who had been through the interviews Kagome held to select her personal household. Just the fact that Kagome was going to mark all of the wolves as servants, and none on the right side of their bodies to act as guards was a declaration of her own personal power, her belief that she did not need anyone to guard her, or that she felt her servants were so trustworthy that she did not need to invest the additional power to bind them more tightly to her before allowing them to use weapons. Both were the case as a matter of fact, although she was not used to thinking of herself as important enough to need guards in this time and that had been one of the other major considerations. And for all she was minimising the power she put into marking the wolves the fact that Kagome was capable of marking all of the pack at one time was another declaration of her immense power reserves (although they all had to be marked by the time the ceremony ended she could have gotten away with marking some beforehand and concealing it). Overall she couldn't help feeling that this ceremony was a potent piece of politicking, and Sess agreed totally.

Kouga came to kneel in front of Kagome, head bowed and wrists crossed behind his back. All the wolves had worn loose fitting shirts that could be easily pushed back or out of the way so Kagome could mark them, although the material and colour varied. Ayame was kneeling right beside her mate, and slightly behind him, both waiting for their master to acknowledge them.

"You have a petition to make. Speak it." Kagome knew that ceremony was only actually necessary when the youkai in question were willingly allowing themselves to be claimed and marked. As to whether or not she'd use it for Sess when she marked him in the past, that was an entirely separate matter, and something she'd decide on then.

"You gave us your protection five hundred years ago, when we had been reduced to but a handful of males, and you aided us in finding mates. Now the reckoning has come due, and we beg of you to accept our pack into your service and mark us as yours, and yours alone." The rest of Kouga's pack had gathered in the hall, under the eyes of the guests, sitting at tables to one side, although a few were acting as servants still, and would be claimed later, after others had replaced them.

"Gladly, provided you are willing. If so approach." Kagome stood, extending her arm to Kouga, waiting for him to stand and take her hand. She used that leverage to pull him up against her, holding him close and whispering into the base of his throat.

"With these words I make you mine." Other methods were available, it was actually more normal to kiss or lick the place where the youkai was to be marked, but Kagome liked the idea of using words. Releasing the wolf youkai she spun Kouga around, forcing him to his knees, and gripping his hair to expose his throat to their audience. "I name Kouga as steward to me, in charge of all the estates and assets brought to my ownership by his pack. Ayame, if you agree to be mine come forward."

Ayame obeyed, eyes cast down modestly, and stood before Kagome awaiting her acknowledgement. Again Kagome pulled her into an embrace, whispering into the base of her throat and marking her as she had Kouga. Again a spin brought the youkai's throat into plain view. "And I name Ayame also as my steward, or chatelaine, to aid Kouga in controlling and tending to those assets I have gained this day." The two wolves got up and stood together watching their new master, admiration and respect in their eyes.

"I have chosen ten of your pack to bring into my personal household, bring them forth, one at a time." The first youkai Ayame led to Kagome was female, and looked about twenty, although in actuality she was near fifty. Pushing her brown hair from the left side of her neck Kagome whispered into the skin where it met her shoulder. "With these words I make you mine." She'd chosen five males, and five females, so while Kouga led the males to her Ayame brought forward the females. Marking those was not too tiring, but what would come next would be, Kagome knew.

"Step forward, in turn you others. Though I have not taken you into my personal household I will still protect you should you choose to serve me, but know that refusal will cause you to be exiled from this pack, for the old oath sworn after Naraku's death was that the pack entire would serve me."

None of the pack refused to serve her, instead they all stepped forward one by one to be marked. The guests were becoming restive, but they all recognised the necessity for Kagome to mark all who would be hers now, and tried to hide their growing impatience, despite that she sensed it. But that was not the most discomforting thing; rather the most discomforting aspect was that she began to tire when she had marked only three hundred of the pack. It was not overly severe, but Kagome began to draw from Sess nonetheless, so that she would not tire so quickly, as she could mark using less power if she was at her full power.

Finally it was done and she could join the feast. Or rather have it brought to her, Kagome beckoned one of her new servants and he set up a table in front of her throne, complete with the meal she'd specified earlier.

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	9. Chapter 9

Sess was near dead on his knees by the time Kagome had finished marking her new youkai, and he felt a faint flicker of jealousy at that thought, until he reminded himself that they had been marked as servants, nothing more. His master had released the hold she had on his hair before she started to mark Kouga's clan and he collapsed against her knees as she re-seated herself on her throne, somehow managing to make it look more like a sensuous sprawl. She was in much better condition, but even so he knew she was pretty drained when she gestured for one of her personal household to bring her meal to her, rather than going to take a place at one of the tables. Sess nuzzled at Kagome's thigh as she ate, trying to remind her that he was hungry too, for when she had finished eating herself, and she slowly began to hand feed him as she ate her own meal, alternating a bite of food for herself with offering a bite of food to Sess. It wasn't conventional, but in its own way it was a show of power. Sayaru could have possibly marked so many youkai at once without collapsing, and perhaps five other Mikos in Tokyo, but they would have needed to draw far more power from their body slaves, probably not from just one body slave either, and no other Miko could then put aside her own hunger to feed her body slave. But Sess knew that for all that a power play was the last thing on Kagome's mind, she was merely showing her customary consideration for him and his needs.

Kagome satisfied herself long before Sess was full and he tried to resign himself to feeling hungry throughout the rest of the celebration, only to be surprised as his master pulled him up so his head lay fully in her lap and continued to feed him, teasingly, making him seem like a pampered pet. He knew she was totally unconscious of the sort of power display she was making, having the youkai no other Miko had been able to claim eating out of her hand and making it look like foreplay, but that only made it more effective. Finally when he'd finished eating he turned his head away from the offered food and then licked at his master's hand in apology. He realised what the other reason Kagome had indulged him was when she stood and made her way over to swap spell techniques with the other Mikos as he trailed behind her – by feeding him she'd bought herself the time she needed to recover almost totally.

"…borrow Sess for the night?" The question caught his attention, especially considering who the speaker was – Yaone was known for being sadistic, she was part youkai herself, although not enough to be classed as hanyou. He shivered and stepped just a little closer to his master, knowing that she would sense the fear that question roused in him, and praying she would refuse the other Miko's request. Even the lowest ranking Miko could refuse to share her body slave, and it was considered either a great favour or an act of great tribute to lend a body slave to another Miko – or it was a punishment to lend a body slave to someone other than another Miko.

"No, I think not. I have developed a possessive streak when it comes to Sess, and if I did share him with anyone it would be just that, sharing him. And with someone who could fill his belly with babies, to make more creatures as beautiful as he is – children who would inherit beauty from both parents, so even were you male I would refuse you." It was a calculated insult on Kagome's part, Yaone wasn't beautiful enough to qualify, a response to the insult Yaone offered in making the request.

"Males cannot bear children, perhaps you need to study anatomy again Kagome-san." Yaone sounded faintly contemptuous, and also a little relieved, as if Kagome's insult meant nothing because she believed Sess incapable of bearing children.

"If you saw with more than your eyes you would see that my pet has been changed here," Sess shivered keeping his eyes cast down modestly as his master pulled him forward to stand beside her and ran her hand over the area where his womb was, and tried desperately to hide his arousal, "by the magic of his father's second wife, Inuyasha's mother, the one who made Inuyasha strong enough to fight full youkai without resorting to magic. She gave him a womb, and the other parts to match, there is no reason he could not bear children. Ask Inuyasha if you doubt me, he raised the hanyou daughter Sess gave birth to after American servicemen raped him in the aftermath of the last war." Then Kagome deliberately turned from the other Miko to look up and down Sess' body, and grip him between the legs.

"Come my pet, you can show me again just how well this gift allows you to understand a woman's needs." Sess followed his master obediently to a private chamber, where she pushed him onto the bed, and rode him until she was satisfied before granting him release. Then they had to return to the party, despite that they both smelled of sex, such things were usually politely ignored, and Sess had noticed that some of the guests had a similar scent when Kagome was talking to them.

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Sesshomaru watched as his brother sparred with his consort. He wished that he could join them, but like everyone else in the castle they'd been determined in their refusal to spar with him. It was three weeks since he'd given birth, and he'd actually needed to get Sayaro to check him over, and report to just about everyone in the castle that he was well before his own followers would let him get out of bed for anything beyond the bare necessities. Ruefully he acknowledged that he was being treated just like a female Taiyoukai would be after giving birth, his followers deferring to his consort and healer over him in anything concerning his health – he'd probably have to get used to being treated this way at least until he stopped breastfeeding. Especially since with his current figure it was very hard to wear male clothing rather than female, and he'd given up on dressing as a male as a result. Now he looked female, smelled female, at least in part, and had a child, so he was being treated as female, and females were usually protected and kept from doing anything dangerous, at least among the nobility. Hopefully this over protectiveness would dissipate once he started looking male again, and if not he'd have to find a way around it; the female Taiyoukais must have after all.

Not that the way he was acting helped his case. Sesshomaru looked down at Ranmaru where he held his pup snuggled against his breast. Most females were less protective of their pups than he was, and it certainly wasn't normal behaviour for a male to pay any attention at all to his pups other than feeding them his blood, and other duties required until they were old enough to learn things such as hunting, or fighting. But he couldn't bring himself to neglect his pup the way he'd been neglected and his half-brother had, besides which he needed to make sure that Ranmaru would be less xenophobic about humans than he'd acted.

"Sesshomaru, I'm sorry, but we have to leave tomorrow." Inuyasha had defeated Karritarous while he'd been musing, and Sesshomaru looked up in acknowledgement.

"Why? You are quite welcome to stay if you wish it." Sesshomaru was trying to think if any of his people had done anything to make his brother feel unwelcome in any way.

"I'd love to stay longer, but Kagome is returning from her time in a bit over a week, and it will take that long for all of us to get to the well." Inuyasha flashed him a smile, one that made him look surprisingly attractive. Perhaps he could bring Inuyasha back into youkai society, before he had to leave his position and become only Kagome's possession. "If we have a chance I'm sure she'll love to visit."

"Tell her that I consider her as much Ranmaru's father as Karritarous is then, and if she wishes to take advantage of the rights that gives her…" Sesshomaru trailed off, realising just what he was saying and going even paler. "In regard to him that is." The father of a youkai had some say in how the pup was educated, and had the right to teach him some things personally if he wished, and sometimes he had the right to sleep with the mother until the child reached adulthood, but only if he was more powerful when they were not mated – and Kagome was certainly more powerful than Sesshomaru.

"Sure. What do you expect her to teach him though?" Sesshomaru had been teaching Inuyasha a few basics about youkai culture during his visit, giving him some of the socialisation he lost out on.

"I'm not sure, but I don't want him to miss the chance to learn from her if she is willing to teach him anything, and learning from a human will help make him less prejudiced against them."

"Well I'll pass the message on when I see her." Inuyasha left to collect the rest of his companions and Sesshomaru put his son aside to do some solo training to keep in shape a bit better. Maybe it was pointless in a way as Kagome's spell would restore him to his exact condition before he conceived, but he wanted to remain strong until then as well.

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For once Inuyasha wasn't waiting at the Bone-Eaters Well when Kagome returned to the Sengoku Jidai, but he was within an hours travel, so she settled down to find the locations of the Shikon shards while she waited. She had just over half the shards already, and Naraku had almost a third, an improvement from when she first used this spell, and they both had approximately equal amounts of shards, with any luck they'd be able to collect the remainder of the shards inside a year, and then confront Naraku over the shards he had. Not that she was entirely looking forward to that. Unfortunately the largest concentration of unclaimed shards was in the opposite direction to Sesshomaru's castle, so she wouldn't be visiting him this trip.

Still she could speak with him later on, when he was likely to be alone, or with only those who wouldn't betray their secrets. That was probably limited to his son, or perhaps his cousin, and effective consort. No, not Karritarous on second thought, he thought that Kagome's only link to Sesshomaru was as a healer, a misapprehension they had encouraged. They had no reason to let him know the real, or rather the full, reason Sesshomaru was bearing a child after all.

"Kagome where are we looking now?" Inuyasha had arrived while she was musing over his brother.

"To the east, I'll just get the detail map to find the exact locations." Kagome acted as she spoke, keeping half her attention on her hanyou. "How was Sesshomaru doing when you left?"

"Sayaro had decided to let him out of bed, but she hasn't cleared him for sparring yet. Everyone's treating him as if he were female, to be protected, never risked. It took our cousin two weeks to offer to feed his blood to my nephew, Sesshomaru was getting his guards to feed him, and feeding him himself because of that, Karritarous didn't go near him for the first two weeks actually. Oh, and Sesshomaru said he considers you as much Ranmaru's father as Karritarous, and you are free to take advantage of the rights that gives you in regard to his son."

"No wonder if that bastard's been neglecting Sess that much. I'd love so much to go there and speak with him about it…but I can't, we need to go for those shards."

"Yeah, we do."

"Kagome-sama, where do we stand in relation to Naraku?" Miroku interjected quietly.

"We've got just over half, he's got just under a third. We can't afford to just go visit Sesshomaru if the strongest concentration of shards isn't at least vaguely near him. Not while I'm in this time anyway." Kagome massaged her temples; she was getting a headache at the thought of her first lover having such problems with the child she'd forced him to bear. "I'll store some of my blood in bottles, as I can give it, and you can take that to him after I go back to my time. At least my blood should help, and if Sesshomaru considers me father to his child it is my duty. You said that it meant I have rights about Ranmaru, what are they?"

"You get to tell Sesshomaru that Ranmaru must learn some things that you consider necessary, or teach him things you want to yourself. Usually that means demanding that the pup learn a certain weapons style, or demanding to teach him to hunt or fight yourself, but I don't think it would work that way with you."

"No, it won't, and I've got no idea what youkai need to know in this time period, so I don't know what to teach him." Shaking her head Kagome reluctantly dismissed that line of thought; she didn't have time to consider that now, instead focusing on the map before her. "Do you know where to find the shards from this?"

"Yes, more or less anyway, Kagome."

"Then let's go." Kagome began marching off to the east without looking to see if her friends would accompany her, knowing that they would anyway.

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Sesshomaru looked into the flame of his bedside lamp as he brushed his hair out. He knew that he'd have a night free of Karritarous' demands, because the other youkai was on a mission to deal with a problem in one of the villages under Sesshomaru's protection, and he was hoping that his master would contact him. It was the day she was due back from her time if what his half brother had said was perfectly accurate – it might not have been, but he held on to hope that it was, and that his master would care enough to contact him. It would be even better if she could come to visit him and his son, but he knew that she had more important things to do than play with her slave during her visits to this time.

"Sesshomaru, did you make some sort of arrangements to keep your cousin away from your bed tonight?"

"Yes, he is my acknowledged consort, so I sent him in my place to deal with a problem in my lands. As he's insisting I'm still an invalid because I've given birth so recently he has no grounds to refuse."

"Is that his duty then? To take your place if you aren't fit to perform one of your duties?"

"It depends, but I am perfectly within my rights to send him as my personal emissary somewhere. How is your hunt going Kagome-sama?"

"We've got a lead on Naraku, but I won't have a chance to come and visit you this time, perhaps during my next visit I will have that option."

"Thank you Kagome-sama. Did my brother convey my message about Ranmaru?"

"Yes, but I'm not entirely sure what I could usefully teach him. I have little idea of what youkai need to know about in these times, and in my own time as far as I can tell they need to know whatever their masters deem useful and nothing else."

"You could teach him about the technology that humans will develop, at least in theory, so he will be less surprised by it than he might be otherwise. Or the higher ranking youkai must be literate, even if humans mostly leave such things to their scribes and their priests nowadays. And numerate too, as much as possible." Sesshomaru lowered his eyes, and worried at his lip with his teeth, debating within himself the advisability of making his next suggestion, and deciding to just make it, and deal with the consequences later. "Or you could teach him something of your magic if you are willing Kagome-sama." Her magic was as pure as any other Miko's, but different in all other ways, and seemed less hostile to youkai than a normal Miko's magic or he would never have made that request. "Only if you are willing, I would never presume to make any demands on you."

"I'll think about it. Who would normally teach a cub these things?"

"Usually it is the mother who teaches the basics of youkai magic, and whoever is chosen by the father teaches the pup whatever else he considers necessary." Sesshomaru sighed, dropping his eyes in submission. "I will miss meeting you in person, and as things are now I cannot even come to see you, rather than making you come to me."

"Well, you can always think about me, and remember I do care for you, perhaps even love you."

"Thank you. Even as often as my cousin chooses to use me I still fantasise sometimes, and my fantasies often feature you in a starring role. Do you still believe that it would be rape if you took me to your bed?"

"No, I've gotten over that particular belief, mainly because of your insistence in my time to be honest."

"You have?" Sesshomaru couldn't repress the rising hope in his voice, he didn't even try to.

"Yes, I gave you my virginity. I still wish that I'd had the sense to realise that ordering you to produce an heir was the same as ordering you to have sex, to give your virginity to someone you didn't love."

"It was your right, no youkai would question that. I only wish you had decided to take my virginity yourself, but it is not my place to ask." Anymore than it was his place to ask her to claim him sexually.

"If I tell you to do something truly distasteful to you then let me know that you find it so, I might not be able to spare you whatever task it is, but if I can I will, and if not I'll try to alleviate how much you suffer for it."

"Thank you Kagome-sama. You are incredibly generous." And as far as Sesshomaru was concerned she was incredibly generous to even think about changing her plans for his sake. It was certainly more than he'd learned to expect from those with power over him.

"No, your expectations are incredibly low, but I won't get into that with you now. There is one thing I'd like you to do for me before I next visit you."

"What is your will Kagome-sama?" Sesshomaru felt only eagerness to please Kagome in some way, no matter what it was.

"Have you ever written down the sexual fantasies you've had, about me, or about anyone?"

"No, never, it simply did not occur to me."

"I want you to write down one of your favourite sexual fantasies for me then. It doesn't have to be anything complex, just something that you find arousing."

"Yes Kagome-sama." Sesshomaru couldn't help but think over his fantasies, the ones about Kagome foremost in his mind at those words. The Miko seemed to sense this and ended their communication swiftly but gently, laughing gently at his discomfort and promising to come visit as soon as she could.

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Kagome found herself smiling in slightly cruel amusement as she thought about how her friends were likely to react to the club she'd invited them to visit with her. Arumi, Eri and Yuka all tended to act as if they were more experienced in life than she was, and so she'd decided to take them to one of the more 'mainstream' youkai clubs. Of course it was only mainstream in the sense that humans were allowed in even if they weren't aware of the existence of youkai and Mikos – BDSM games were often played out in the main rooms of the club, as long as they weren't too blatantly sexual. Kagome was wearing leather moulded to her body, a dark shade of red, crimson shading almost to black in places, and she had a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder, both made of black wood. Sess was dressed more pacifically, wearing a pale blue gi and paler blue hakama, the gi falling open to reveal the phoenix on his breast, his collar displaying his submission for anyone who didn't understand that. Her friends had all chosen short Western dresses, in red for Yuka, blue for Eri and green for Arumi, and they looked a little shocked by the way Kagome and Sess were dressed.

"You should have told us that we needed to wear costumes!" Yuka sounded almost petulant. "We'd have loved the chance to get dressed up."

"Oh, you don't need to wear costumes, and not wearing costumes means you won't get dragged into any of the games. The costumes usually say things about the wearer that I don't think you'd want to risk, not on your first visit to Shinigami's." Kagome laughed gently at the thought, then she tossed a bracelet with her insignia on it to each of her friends. "Wear these, they'll keep you safe from most people there."

"We're going to need protection?"

"Keep us safe?"

"Are the people there that dangerous?" All three of Kagome's friends spoke at once.

"Yes, these bracelets have my insignia on them, and the insignias of people high ranked enough that touching what they claim is suicidal are circulated amongst the members, and only members can play in the more private areas – you should be safe enough in the public rooms. It's a BDSM club, and none of you have the presence to be safe in your own right, no sub would ask you to top them, but in the public areas nothing too extreme happens."

"I didn't know you were into that sort of thing. So Sess is your…'sub'?"

"No, he's my slave. The difference is being a sub is a temporary thing, one night a week, or something like that, while a slave is permanent, although slaves can cope without having someone tell them what to do, unlike pets, who are lost without having a master. A slave will always wear some mark showing that he is owned – it's usually a collar like this, but for Sess, and a lot of the slaves at that club, it is this." And Kagome reached out to stroke her claim marking on Sess' chest.

"So we don't flirt with any hot guys who've got a tattoo over their hearts?" Yuka was laughing slightly at the thought, but she quickly fell silent when Kagome replied.

"No, don't flirt with any hot guys with a tattoo over their hearts. Don't flirt with anyone who's got a tattoo on their body at all. And the waiters and waitresses are all subs, at the very least, so they'll be obedient to whatever you ask as long as you don't go beyond the bounds permitted in the public areas." Kagome laughed at the thought that occurred to her. "So don't make any requests that are too outrageous. Oh, and did you ask your parents if you were allowed to drink at the club?"

"As long as there's a responsible adult with us."

"No more than three glasses of wine."

"Not at all. What about you?" Yuka's parents were the strictest, partly because her father was a cop.

"Oh, I'm allowed to drink if I want to, Mother usually treats me as an adult." After all she'd taken on adult responsibilities in searching for the Shikon no Tama. "And yes Eri, we do have a responsible adult with us, Sess is an adult after all – even if he is submissive he can defend us if need be." Although somehow Kagome didn't think that was what Eri's parents had meant. "I've arranged transport for us." Reaching out Kagome checked her link with the wolf who was acting as her chauffeur. "It should be arriving about now."

Leading her friends out of the shrine she smiled secretively at the shock on their faces as they piled into the limousine, not even waiting for her wolf to open the door for them. Kagome followed them more slowly and Sess knelt at her feet in what he considered the appropriate posture – partly because she'd wanted to shock them, and hopefully if she was outrageous enough they'd stop trying to pair her with Hojo, who was a sweet, conventional human boy.

"And one thing you should be aware of, there might be 'scenes' on in the club, but nothing more sexually explicit than this in the main rooms. Bring me my pet." And Kagome jerked Sess' head to her groin, having loosened the leather ties there.

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	10. Chapter 10

Sess followed his master and her friends into Shinigami's, eyes lowered appropriately. He'd enjoyed shocking her friends in the limo, and by doing that his master had shown him that she wasn't ashamed of him, that she was willing to claim him in front of her friends, even those who didn't know about youkai, or her Miko powers. The thing that had amused him most was that he could smell the arousal from two of Kagome's friends, Yuka and Eri, along with jealousy, while Arumi had just been shocked at the sight in front of her.

A cat hanyou, one of the few who had been claimed, came and knelt in front of Kagome as they entered the dining room. The hanyou remained silent, waiting for Kagome to acknowledge his presence, Sess had coached her in this, so he wasn't surprised by her cool acknowledgement.

"You may speak pretty catling."

"Your table is prepared for four as you requested, Kagome-sama, with a cushion for your body slave. Do you wish him to serve your meal, or shall I send a slave over to attend your table?"

"Send a slave, male I think, my companions have no interest in females, and I do not care to share what is mine."

"Yes Kagome-sama. Do your companions have any preferences in the appearance of the slave I send?"

"Well, do you – besides 'cute' that is?" Kagome turned to her friends, who were still gaping in shock.

"Um, any redheads?" Yuka was the one who finally spoke up.

"Slim too, not bulky." Eri chimed in with her own wishes, and that encouraged Arumi to speak.

"But not skinny."

"Yes, of course ladies. Kagome-sama, if you will permit it I'll show you to your table." It was the best table in the room, and Sess curled up at his master's feet, watching as a young kitsune, marked like the hanyou who had greeted them on his left wrist, showing he belonged to the same person, the owner of the club, came to take their orders.

"Will this one be acceptable to serve you, ladies?" The kitsune did fit all the parameters that Kagome's friends had given her, so while they just giggled the Miko smiled at him.

"Yes. My friends seem to approve of you."

"If you are willing this one could bring drinks for you while you study the menus Kagome-sama?"

"Get a jug of sake and five dishes. Unless any of you want something different?" From the tone of her voice it was obvious that Kagome expected the answer to be no. Eri and Arumi live up to her expectations, but Yuka spoke up.

"I'm not allowed to drink remember?"

"Yes, make it four dishes then. Yuka what do you want instead?"

"A coke please."

"Well?"

"Yes Kagome-sama." The kitsune bowed nearly to the floor and backed away three paces before he turned his back on them, displaying as much respect as he could.

"What did you think of him?"

"He's hot!" Yuka sounded enthusiastic about that.

"But he's kinda creepy, the way he's acting so submissive. I mean he's talking like a slave. Even your Sess doesn't refer to himself that way."

"He is a slave. A tattoo in this club, when placed on the wrist, where the neck meets the shoulder, above the heart, or at the base of the throat means a slave. At least if it is a small tattoo, and displayed. But you can only command those who wear this tattoo" and here Sess knew that Kagome must have pointed to the picture of the owner's insignia on the menus, or somewhere else, "on the left wrist. The others are all the property of a member and off limits, or act as security."

"In this club. Does that mean that a slave would be marked differently in another club?"

"Normally a slave is marked by a collar that he or she never takes off. But subs wear collars as well, so usually you need to see the slave over a period of time in different situations to tell. The other difference is that subs have a safe word, and can stop the play at any time, slaves do not, it is at the discretion of their master when the play stops."

"In other words a slave has no right to say no, even if they're being raped, while a sub can say no."

"Yes, although I would like to point out that most masters won't rape their slaves – I don't rape Sess, and a sub is equally at risk every time he lets himself be tied up."

"Would Sess agree with your assessment?" Sess couldn't quite believe how concerned Yuka was for him, she'd only met him once before this, and now she was arguing with his owner over him, because Kagome-sama had explained some simple facts to her. The conversation was cut short by the kitsune returning with the drinks.

"Your coke Yuka-dono. Kagome-sama, shall this one serve the sake?"

"Yes, please do, to me, to Eri and Arumi, and to my slave."

"Yes Kagome-sama." The kitsune laid the bowls out for each of the girls named, putting one on the floor by Sess, before pouring it for each of them.

"What's your name?" Eri sounded curious, and her question was teasing.

"This one is called Shinji, Eri-dono." Shinji knelt beside Sess, waiting for more instructions, Sess decided to flaunt the intimacy of his master's claim on him, rubbing his cheek against her thigh.

"Shinji, my friends have raised a question, how would you feel if you were ordered to satisfy one of them sexually?"

"I would obey of course Kagome-sama."

"That wasn't the question, I know you would obey, but how would you feel about it?"

"I would do my best to take pleasure in the act, but I would wish I didn't have to submit without question."

"Would you class it as rape then?"

"No, of course not."

"If you don't have a choice it is rape!" Yuka sounded outraged.

"Whether it is morally rape or not, without a victim willing to complain there is no way for it to be legally considered rape. Oh, and one other thing, slaves do have one recourse, they can terminate their contract, ending the relationship entirely. Except in cases where the contract is for a fixed term that is." Kagome interrupted there, and Sess found it amusing that she would be the one defending the fact that claimed youkai had no choice in who they lay with considering how reluctant she had been to use him when she first learned that she owned him. "Sess, have I ever forced you to do something you did not wish to do sexually?"

"No Kagome-sama, never, in fact Yuka-dono whenever we are more adventurous in bed she has modelled it upon my fantasies, not upon hers."

"What sort of fantasies?" There was an air of morbid curiosity about Yuka at this point.

Sess looked to Kagome for permission before responding. "Well, our first time together she used gas to knock me out, tied me spread-eagled face-up, had me lick her to completion and then gave me her virginity. It was a much milder version of a fantasy I'd written out for her to read."

"That's milder?"

"In my fantasy I'd been taken prisoner in battle, beaten unconscious and I certainly didn't have a safe word or anything like that."

"Why were you writing out a fantasy like that anyway?" Arumi was curious about that apparently.

"Kagome-sama knew that I am sexually submissive, but she didn't quite understand what that meant, reading my fantasies was supposed to help."

"Did it?" Sess was growing worried by the prurient interest Kagome-sama's friends were showing in their sex life.

"It seemed to please her enough that she chose to take me, and Kagome-sama is now comfortable dominating me. I do not know what else to say."

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Kagome laughed quietly as she remembered just how very shocked her friends had been when she took them to Shinigami's. By the end of the evening Yuka and Eri had both taken advantage of Shinji's availability, and, encouraged by his constant flirting, had the kitsune satisfy them using his hands and mouth, although Eri at least had resented Kagome's casual order forbidding Shinji to breach their maidenheads. Neither of the two girls had thought about the slave's pleasure, and it had surprised them to see Kagome pull him to sit in her lap, reach around to unfasten the trousers he wore and whisper into his ears her orders for how he was to masturbate. It had surprised Kagome just how much she had resented her friends' lack of concern for Shinji's needs, especially as the show she'd put on in the limo with Sess had ignored his needs. Kagome shook her head decisively. She wasn't going to justify her actions to herself. Her mother had accepted Kagome's right to bed Sess, and once she'd been reassured that Kagome wasn't going to get pregnant she'd been remarkably comfortable with the knowledge that her daughter had taken a lover, one who slept in her room at night.

"Sess, I was just thinking about the way my friends treated Shinji, and the show we put on for them in the limo. Did I ignore your needs then as much as I'm beginning to think I did, as much as they ignored Shinji's needs?" A hand dropped to pet Sess' hair as she asked the question. "And answer truthfully please, do not try to tell me what you think I want to hear."

"No Kagome-sama, you didn't ignore my needs. I do not know if you have noticed it or not, but when you have me give you pleasure that way, or in any way that would have no physical effect on me, you tend to allow me to feel an echo of your pleasure down our bond. Merely because I do not make a mess does not mean I have not enjoyed myself."

"I didn't know that I did that, no, but I'm glad that I do. I realise you enjoyed yourself, but you didn't have any relief. That truly doesn't bother you?"

"No Kagome-sama, it doesn't. Sometimes it's good to be denied, and that makes it all the better when desire is sated, you know?"

"I'm not sure I quite understand that, but as long as you're happy with what happened, that's all that matters. Now strip and lie on our bed with your legs open." She called it 'our bed', but really it was hers; unless she ordered otherwise, and told him to stay in bed with her when they'd finished playing Sess always got out of bed and curled up on the floor at the foot of her bed. He took the idea that he was her slave very seriously, far more seriously than she did to be honest.

Once Sess was lying as instructed she began kissing her way down his body, starting at his neck and making her way down to his cock. She hesitated, but then she took him into her mouth, one hand going behind that to play with his female parts. But instead of trying to make this quick she decided to draw it out for as long as she could, keeping in mind his words about delayed gratification. In the end when he was whining in what sounded like genuine pain she brought him.

"Are you all right?" She scrambled up the bed to lie next to him.

"Oh, yes, Kagome-sama. That was wondrous, but what of your pleasure?"

"Serve it now then." A casual command, and she lay back waiting for him to please her.

0

This time Kagome had managed to find an excuse to visit Sesshomaru. There was a concentration of shards two days travel past his castle, and once they'd collected those it was reasonable to visit him for a while. The others had agreed, and they liked it, the chance to settle down in a nice castle and sleep in beds for a while was much appreciated. And they'd managed to collect sixteen shards so far, enough to justify a short rest at least. Besides which she had obligations to Sess and his son.

He was dressed like a Miko. Kagome resisted the urge to laugh at that, and she realised just why he was dressed that way when she saw how much more respect he was getting from his people, even as incongruous as it was for a youkai to wear the clothing of a Miko. It also served to remind them that his magic was powerful enough to make him a Miko or priest if he'd been human. And apparently he'd managed to convince his people not to 'protect' him as much as they had been.

"Sesshomaru-sama, might we stay here for the night at least?"

"Of course, Kagome-san. I would speak with you in private, later."

"As you wish Sesshomaru-sama." She smiled up at him, sending reassurance through their bond, before she made a request of her own. "Might I hold your pup, and care for him until then in that case? I will gladly wait in your bedchamber if you desire once I have placed my baggage somewhere safe."

The Taiyoukai visibly deliberated over that question, Kagome suddenly remembered that he'd mentioned how very possessive he'd been of Ranmaru before she returned to the Sengoku Jidai, and she prayed she hadn't screwed anything up.

"Very well." The murmurs of astonishment told Kagome that no one had expected him to agree. "You were there at his delivery and powerful enough to take his father's part." And that was a deliberate slap at Karritarous, who was glowering in fury at the reminder, and who obviously hadn't been permitted to be alone with Ranmaru. "You, take the Miko to her room, and thence to my bedchamber, and then take Rin to her. Mikos are supposed to educate human children are they not?"

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama, we are supposed to educate children. I do not distinguish for species, even if others do. Is there anything in particular that you wish me to teach to Rin?" Kagome could tell that he'd come up with a very good excuse to let her play with Rin for a while and forget her cares and she appreciated it.

"Nothing special, but I do not think she knows even the most basic of the more cultural skills, start with the basics. Here." He stood and handed Ranmaru over to Kagome, smiling gently. "And if you think it best teach her something of how to care for a child."

"That would be a good idea, for when she has young of her own; I'll teach her what I know at least. I am young, even for a human remember?" That made the whole court laugh at Kagome's quiet self-depreciation, even Sesshomaru.

"True, and yet you have accomplished much despite that."

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama. I will leave now if you will permit it?" She gave a slight bow as she spoke, and got the response she wanted.

"Yes, go now." And he waved a clawed hand in dismissal.

0

"Rin, leave now, this Sesshomaru intends to speak with the Miko alone."

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama." Rin left with admirable swiftness, and Sesshomaru shut the door behind her, casting a spell to ensure their privacy. Kagome cast a spell of her own when she saw what he was doing, presumably for the same purpose. He knelt to get the fantasy he'd written down for Kagome out of a spell sealed box he used to keep everything that he needed to hide secure, then he handed it to her and curled up on the floor, waiting for her response.

"Would that even be possible?" Kagome sounded puzzled, and she was letting him feel her emotions as well. "That a Miko could become a ruler among the youkai that way?"

"Yes, Kagome-sama but to issue a challenge, and expect it to be accepted, not just brushed off, she has to have enough youkai personally loyal to her to be a threat to the youkai she challenges." Sesshomaru wasn't quite sure where this was going, but he intended to answer any questions she had as fully as he could. "Youkai respect Mikos, we fear some of you, and we consider you as close to our equals as humans get."

"Right. Sess, did it damage your position in youkai politics that you carried a child, on my demand, and gave birth?"

"No, Kagome-sama. Because everyone thinks it was my own choice to give birth, if it became known that it wasn't my choice, if Naraku had raped me for example, then it would have damaged my position greatly. That's why female Taiyoukai never leave themselves in a position where rape resulting in pregnancy is a risk."

"And because no one knew you could bear children you couldn't do that."

"Unless you tell me otherwise I don't intend to keep myself away from the fighting once I look male again either." Sesshomaru wasn't going to hide away, he'd lose too much of the respect of his people that way, more than he already had. If he'd dared let his nature be known earlier then things might have been different, he'd have already learned to compensate for that perceived weakness the way a female Taiyoukai would, but if his uncle had learned what he was before he became an adult he'd have been forced to mate with one of his uncle's sons as soon as Inutaisho died. And Inutaisho hadn't cared to let it be known how he'd allowed his wife to alter his full youkai son.

"Well, I can find a spell that will give you a measure of protection from rape. I'd like you to give me a chance to cast it before you go putting yourself at risk."

"You aren't making it an order?" Sesshomaru was confused by that. He belonged to Kagome after all, so why…

"It is your safety that is at risk. And if you feel that you can always protect yourself without my aid then I'll accept that. I'll worry, but I'll accept it."

"I'm sorry Kagome-sama." And he was; the idea of adding to the Miko's burdens, already too heavy was shocking to him. "Of course I will notify you when I wish to resume my normal habits, and wait for you to have the opportunity to cast this spell on me. If I might ask, what was your opinion of what I wrote?"

"I once read that rape fantasies are fairly common, but only among people who tend to be sexually dominant, or submissive. I'd never do anything like that to you, or to anyone, at least, not unless it was a game, and my lover had given full consent. Does Karritarous treat you well? I saw him break one of your bones once, and…"

"He doesn't really hurt me, bruises, scratches, that sort of thing, and nothing that can't be hidden. But part of the price for his siring my child was that I be submissive to him in bed." Sesshomaru shrugged, Kagome had approved the match, and Karritarous had treated him far more gently than he'd feared. And…he'd enjoyed submitting to the other youkai.

"Here, you can hide that away again. If you want, I've written a fantasy of mine down, you can keep it. But don't even think about trying to fulfil it, it isn't a subtle order. I just felt that since you had to show me something personal to you, I should share in the same way."

"Thank you. Do you wish to return to your bed now?"

"Yes, I think I will Sess." She kissed him lightly before she left and he began to read her fantasy before his consort returned.

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The silver youkai slid to his knees in front of Kagome, strong hands trailing down her sides to rest at her waist. He leaned forward and worked at her pants with his lips, teeth and tongue, opening them quickly, and then sliding his hands down to rest on her hips, on the bare skin as he worked the pants and panties down to her knees with his mouth. This was going just a little bit too fast, Kagome pushed him from her and he sat back on his heels, looking up at her from amber eyes that held a hint of fear.

"I'm not angry Sess." She ran her hand through his hair as she explained. "But you're going too fast, and these are encumbering." She pulled her pants and panties off, tossing them to one side, but leaving her high heeled boots on. "Now, why don't you pay attention to my top half?"

She pulled him to his feet, knowing that he was letting her do that, and against her. He began to slowly unfasten her blouse, laying kisses on each bit of skin as it was exposed, and then she let it slide off her body once he'd opened it, and pushed it off her shoulders. He managed to get her bra off as well, and then he began to lick and nibble at first one breast, then the other. Eventually, when he'd brought her to the verge of climax, she pushed him to his knees again, thrusting her groin into his face. After she'd gone Kagome noticed that her lover had wrapped his arms around her thighs to keep her on her feet when she climaxed, and also that doing this had aroused him.

She pushed Sess down to the floor and stripped him quickly, kissing the phoenix over his heart marking him as hers, and then further down his body until she reached his groin. She slid a cock ring on him as she took him into her mouth, pulling back to explain.

"So you don't have to worry about controlling yourself."

When she tired of what she was doing Kagome straddled Sess, and took him into her, moving above him. But that wasn't quite enough, and she slapped his flank gently.

"Move for me Sess." And she took his cock ring off, allowing him his release, just as he brought her to climax. But she wasn't going to let him go to sleep straight away, like most men, and she slid her fingers between them, to play with Sess' other sex parts, keeping him awake, and bringing him back to arousal much more quickly than he would otherwise have managed. But she pulled off him, and moved to sit at his head.

"I want you to lick me clean Sess. Then, I might do the same for you."

The youkai immediately put his head in her lap, licking her inside and out, until he'd swallowed all of his seed that had ended up on or in her, and she'd climaxed two or three times during the process. He'd earned his reward; she cleaned him with her tongue, and then took him into her mouth, once she'd told him he was permitted to climax.

Afterwards Kagome pulled Sess up to her bed, kissed him, and slept in his arms all night.

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	11. Chapter 11

Sesshomaru found himself flushing lightly as he read Kagome-sama's fantasy. It wasn't because of how explicit it was, but because of the implied trust and caring between them. In a way it was rather sweet, even in spite of the evidence of her obvious dominance and control over her lover. She'd fantasised about comforting and reassuring him when he was scared of the power she held over him, and then about just sleeping and being held by him while she slept.

He hid the written fantasy away with his own fantasy, and his other secrets, when he sensed his consort arriving. And he reminded himself that he'd agreed to submit to the other in bed, and so it was his duty to do so. Even if it would be hard after reading how the Miko would treat him if he'd been submitting to her, rather than to Karritarous.

"Tell me she wasn't trying to bed you!" Karritarous gripped Sesshomaru by the upper arms as he made the demand, Sesshomaru didn't try to fight the other youkai's grip, instead he relaxed into it, calming his consort slightly.

"She wasn't trying to bed me. Nor was I seeking to bed her, this private meeting was my idea recall, I needed to check some things with her. Female matters." The last two words would silence the other far more easily than anything else could, and Sesshomaru did have reason to talk about such things. But in case that wasn't enough he bent his head to nuzzle at his cousin's arm, and modified his glamour to show his arousal, letting Karritarous think it was for him, and the position he'd been put in. With a youkai who had more magic he wouldn't have risked it, because the change in his glamour would reveal too much about it, including the fact that it existed when there should have been no reason for it to, but since his second cousin was a pure fighter almost, it didn't matter.

"I know you're female as well as male. The way you've been dressing recently makes that very clear, but I still forget you have to worry about those things. You never said why you've dressed as a Miko – it's a bit...inappropriate, isn't it?" Sesshomaru's actions seemed to have worked; Karritarous had released him, and stepped back a bit. Sesshomaru took the opportunity to curl up on his bed, encouraging his consort to think about the other uses for a bed.

"Perhaps, but it reminds my court that I have magic close enough to rival a Miko, and nothing else seems to get me any respect from them since I gave birth." He let a smile play over his lips. "You seem to be doing much better in learning politics than I expected."

"You might get more respect if you didn't pay more attention to our son than a full female would. No one can understand why you don't get a nurse to look after him."

"I will eventually, but…" He didn't expect his cousin to understand. "Are you going to take me now?" It was the only thing Karritarous wanted from him, his body.

"We'll try something different this one time. I'm going to let you top me. I suggest you make it good." From his smile Karritarous didn't think that Sesshomaru could, he knew that he couldn't do the sort of thing his cousin did to him, but the sort of thing Kagome-sama had written about…

"Strip for me, make it appealing, then come kneel in front of me." Sesshomaru surreptitiously searched for the oil, and one of the toys his cousin had used on him as his order was obeyed.

"You may undress me; kiss my skin as it is exposed." Karritarous was good at that, building Sesshomaru's arousal despite his growing discomfort with this role. He realised just why his cousin had decided on doing things this way – he was making sure Sesshomaru realised that he didn't really like dominating anyone sexually. Unnecessarily, the fantasy he'd written out for Kagome-sama, and the one he'd just read had brought that home to him.

"Prepare yourself for me, and use that to keep yourself open for me." He tossed the toy and bottle of oil at his consort once the other stepped back. "Put on a show."

Karritarous looked a bit lost at being told to do something Sesshomaru had had to do a number of times for him, but he obeyed, even if he didn't do very well. He was just a little bit too businesslike about it for the sight to be truly arousing, and he certainly didn't play with the plug as Sesshomaru would have. Sesshomaru noticed that his lover was barely aroused, so he decided to take Kagome-sama's solution, pushing Karritarous down and using his mouth to bring him to arousal, before adding a cock ring to keep him that way.

"Use your mouth to pleasure me, focus on my female parts, not the male ones." If he climaxed in his female parts it felt different to when he climaxed in the male parts, he'd learned that since he'd been with Karritarous, and he preferred climaxing as a female would, because he could climax more often that way. Three times before he decided to call a stop to it, even though his cousin wasn't very good at what he was doing.

"Bend over the end of the bed." He didn't bother with art, he just took his consort, although he did manage to angle to the right spot to arouse Karritarous more. He was glad that his cousin wasn't one of those males who found that sort of thing unbearably painful; that would have stopped him dead. He only released the cock ring when Karritarous started to beg, and he allowed himself to climax then.

"Clean me up; if you do a good job I'll let you take me. As if I were in heat." That wasn't Karritarous' favourite type of sex, but it seemed to work as motivation. Afterwards he used one of his odd little spells to clean them both up, and pulled his consort into bed with him.

"Sleep now."

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Kagome didn't know what was bothering her, she'd already known that Sess was submissive and had always been submissive, but for some reason it was bothering her more to see it in this Sesshomaru more than it did when she saw it in Sess, her lover, and likely mate in the future. Perhaps it was because in this time she was used to seeing him as the Taiyoukai, a power in his own right, and in her own he was a pretty bedtoy for her, and that was all he really wanted to be. But then…she had the feeling that his own court were subtly disrespecting him, and slipping from his control, just because he'd given birth, or for some other reason? And the way she'd heard that Karritarous treated Sesshomaru in bed troubled her for some reason, and she couldn't figure out why.

Suddenly it hit her, and she laughed. She was pissed because Karritarous was abusing her property, and because he could only do that as a result of the orders she'd given Sesshomaru. She felt as if she should be coming to his rescue, and punishing the other youkai for hurting him, but she couldn't. If she did then she'd destroy any hopes he had of controlling his people again, and she needed a stable ruler here, to keep a little bit of order while she was hunting the fragments of the Shikon no Tama. And dealing with Karritarous properly would ruin her hopes of having an at least semi-decent successor after him.

She couldn't do much, but if she could bolster Sesshomaru in any way she would, and she'd always give him a listening ear, and whatever emotional support she could, she vowed it. And at least she was going to do something to make sure Sess wouldn't be raped, she could free him of one fear that the fantasy he'd written for her revealed, even if he hadn't realised it.

Kagome shook her head in dismissal, and then went to practise her archery. She did do some simple target shooting, but it wasn't an entirely accurate representation of real combat, and she needed that more. There were a couple of youkai watching her, especially after she began to try shooting while she was doing minor evasive manoeuvres, rolling and leaping as she shot. She didn't do as well that way, but well enough.

"You!" She pointed to the nearest youkai. "I want you to throw some targets for me. Don't warn me when you're going to throw them." The targets in question were clay balls, the size of Kagome's clenched fist, just about the size of a heart. "No more than two in the air at a time."

The youkai obeyed without question, probably because of her confident tone of voice, and she spent a pleasurable half hour shooting the targets, first in a simple stance, then adding in some of the evasive moves she'd used before. She only stopped when she sensed Sesshomaru's near awe at her skill. Turning she realised that he finally seemed to have decided he trusted a nurse to take care of Ranmaru, and it was a relief.

She put her bow away, packing it carefully, and walked over to speak with him.

"Did you enjoy the display Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Yes, you are very skilled Kagome-san." She could sense him putting up a shield against anyone overhearing them, and did the same. "Do you think Rin would be able to learn how to use the bow from what you have seen of her?"

"If you can get her a proper teacher I expect so. I had to learn by experience, and lots of practice. Sess, what did you think of the fantasy I left for you to read?"

"It was beautiful. You put so much emphasis on the emotional connections that it shamed me. I…used it to help me when Karritarous decided to get me to top, as a guideline. I couldn't do the things he does to me." He was blushing, and Kagome decided to let the question lie.

"Take whatever pleasure you can. We'll have to leave tomorrow; I don't really like staying in one place for too long."

"Very well. I appreciate your willingness to teach Rin." He smiled at her as they took their wards down.

"It is my duty, and a pleasure. I will bring some books to help her study while I cannot the next time I come to visit you Sesshomaru-sama."

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Sess knelt in his master's bedroom, doing the final work on the kimono he'd been creating for her over the last ten years. He'd collected the finest silk he could find, in shades of blue, purple and red, and prepared the patterns from what he remembered of her size, doing the embroidery first, but he hadn't been able to get the final measurements until now. He knew that these measurements weren't ideal, but they would be close enough to what he remembered as her adult shape that she would still be able to wear each kimono in a hundred years or more if it held up well enough. And the skills he'd learned to do this could be used as often as he needed to create traditional outfits fit for a Miko as important as his master. It wasn't often important, but it could matter, and he remembered that she'd worn a formal kimono very like the one he was working on now when she'd claimed him, publicly. She'd also brought back a number of traditional Miko's outfits, about five or six, and ten to twelve yukata, along with the appropriate underthings, and perhaps half as many outfits for him, representing incredible wealth in that time.

She was due back tomorrow, and he thought he could get these finished by then. He wanted these outfits all made near totally by hand, the yukata he could use a machine for, but it felt important that he sew his master's kimono by hand, he didn't know why, but it was. He'd been sleeping in her bed while she was gone, to get her scent, as well as he could, and after all if a body slave was left behind while his master travelled it was usual for him to sleep in his master's bed, to keep others from touching him. They were often left caged or chained in some way as well, but Kagome-sama didn't seem to realise that. Perhaps he should have told her, but he did not wish to displease her, and he suspected that knowledge would anger her.

He heard his master's name, on a strange human boy's lips. Her family name, not her personal name, but from the way he was inquiring about her…

Sess stood and made his way to the living room where his master's mother was dealing with her apparent suitor – presumably unwelcome, but he could ask about that later.

"Minako-dono," it wasn't as high an honorific as he afforded to his master, but still showed that she was his better, "if I might ask, who is this boy, who inquires so insistently about Kagome-sama?"

"Oh, Sess-kun, this is Hojo-kun, a friend of Kagome's from school."

"Has Kagome-sama shown any interest in his suit? Or is this the one her friends think would please her and are falsely encouraging? I had thought that was why Kagome-sama took them to visit Shinigami's, to discourage them."

"What exactly is Shinigami's? I don't think Kagome said."

"Kagome-sama?" The human boy sounded too shocked to do anything, when he got to the point of demanding an answer then Sess would pay attention to him.

"One of the less outrageous of the BDSM clubs she has membership in, it's automatic with her status as a Miko, Minako-dono. Her status allowed her to make sure that her friends would not be molested, but I think she was a bit unhappy about how they treated the slave serving them."

"What do you mean? Is Higurashi-san a Miko? And slavery's illegal!"

"Yes, Kagome-sama is a very powerful Miko, but mostly untrained. That's the real reason she misses so much school, training as a Miko is more important." It was a lie that they'd agreed on if it became necessary. "And as for slavery, I'm Kagome-sama's body slave, which means among other things, that I make her clothes, help her dress, do her hair and make-up, and warm her bed when she wishes it, by my own free choice. It is a sub-culture you could never really join, not fully, and it is something Kagome-sama needs." Just a touch of magic was all he needed to allow Sess to discourage any further inquiries, and totally prohibit any revelations on the boy's part.

"That's sick!"

"It is how I choose to live, and what better expression of trust could I give to her? She wrote a fantasy of hers out for me once, I…was in another relationship at the time, and I thought her fantasies would be like the actions of that other, focused on the control I would willingly give to her, on taking it by force, unnecessary as that would have been. Instead they were focused on how she would care for me, and treasure me. Nothing had ever made me feel valued in the way reading her words did then." This was beyond the boy's comprehension, but it seemed to make Minako-dono feel much happier about his relationship with Kagome-sama. This 'Hojo' was going to leave, anyway, so…

"Minako-dono, might I return to preparing Kagome-sama's kimono?"

"Go ahead Sess-kun, but remember I want to see them when you've finished."

"I have already completed three outfits. It would be nice if I could display them, or one at least, on some sort of stand…" He let the hint trail off, uncertain whether he'd exceeded his place or not.

"I think I've got something appropriate, we can see later."

"Yes Minako-dono." He bowed, and returned to his sewing.

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"I'm home!" Kagome was looking forward to the pampering Sess always did for her when she got back to her time. Her family had never done that for her, but they kept her secrets and that was far more important. She was paying the price for doing her duty in how it affected her schoolwork, but she had to, even though she knew it disappointed her mother terribly. But her school work had been improving since she learned about Sess, and since she'd made that deal with Inuyasha. This time she had three weeks to study, doing it this way made it much easier for her to catch and keep up. But she still felt guilty about leaving the others behind in the Sengoku Jidai even if they could find shards using the maps she'd marked before she left. Still, it was an improvement for them on what they could do without her; she kept on reminding herself of that.

"Hello Kagome. How long will you be back this time?" That was always the first question her mother asked. It shouldn't have been, not since Sess had a list of when she'd be gone, and when she'd be returning, but it was. Perhaps she felt better to actually hear Kagome's plans from her, instead of second hand. It had always made Kagome feel better to hear her mother tell her she'd be fine when she was ill than anything else.

"Three weeks this time, we collected fifteen shards, we're getting closer and pretty soon Naraku will have the only other shards left."

"What will you do then?" Her mother sounded frightened, she couldn't blame her.

"We'll have to fight him of course. But you don't need to worry, from what Sess said we'll win, somehow. I don't know how, but I won't let him have the Shikon no Tama, no matter what the cost is."

"That doesn't exactly reassure me. You're telling me that you'll die if you have to so that you can keep the Shikon no Tama away from this Naraku. I should be proud that you're willing to give up so much to protect the world, but all I can feel is fear, fear of losing you to save the world from an enemy I know nothing about."

"It isn't like that. I know that I'm not going to die in killing Naraku. After all Sess wears my insignia, and I haven't marked him back in the Sengoku Jidai, I can't, not until his son is ten years old. I made a promise. So I have to have survived long enough to formally mark him and claim him as mine. And he's said a few things about my keeping him as my pet and bed slave for a number of years after that. From the way he put it, it sounded as if I go to live back then full-time after I claimed him. It makes sense I guess, back then claimed youkai were often killed for being weak so I'd have to stay to protect him."

"So in ten years time we'll lose you, forever."

"I…don't know. You know that Sess is reluctant to tell us too much about the future as it is for us. But unless the Well is sealed again I can come back for visits, just as if I'd moved to America or something."

"And you're certain it won't be sealed?"

"I can't be certain, but I know that I won't seal it, and neither will Inuyasha. You'll have ten years with me. I know it's not really enough, but can't you leave tomorrow's problems for tomorrow? I don't want to ruin my time with you by worrying about what will be, what must be."

"I suppose so. In some ways it feels as if you're the older of us two, some of your attitudes are vaguely old-fashioned even as I see it. And you see the long view so much more easily than I do." That was vaguely disturbing, that her mother could think of her that way. "Oh, go on up to see Sess, I know you want to. He's got a surprise waiting for you."

Given that permission Kagome ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

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Sess finished setting the most elaborate of the kimono up on the stand Minako-dono had found for him, arranging the series of under-kimono so that you could just see the edge of the sleeve of each of them, just as Kagome-sama returned through the Well. He settled to his knees to wait for her, sitting seiza as a compromise between what he felt he should do to show his respect for his master, and what she was comfortable with. She'd tried ordering him not to show his respect for her in any way, but then, when she realised how uncomfortable that made him Kagome-sama had been generous enough to consider his needs. He knew just how lucky he was to belong to her. When he heard her start to run up the stairs he bowed his head and waited for her arrival, which she announced with a gasp of pleasure.

"It's beautiful Sess. I can't imagine how much it must have cost."

"Less than you would think Kagome-sama." Body slaves were often granted the privilege of speaking more freely to their master than most did, and Kagome-sama was generous even by that standard. "I made your kimono myself. The others are in the new trunk at the foot of your bed."

"I didn't know you were so talented. Would you like me to try that one on now?"

"Whatever pleases you best Kagome-sama."

"Perhaps not." She laughed and bent to kiss him. Sess had learned that this master enjoyed his responding as much as Karritarous had, and so he didn't hesitate to caress her tongue with his own, even if she remained the aggressor. When she stood back up, pulling away from him a whine of disappointment escaped his lips, and he blushed as she smiled down at him.

"That's far too formal to wear just around the house. Perhaps if I'm invited to a formal occasion or something, but…do you think Mom would like to see me in it?"

"Minako-dono asked me to show her all of the kimono I made before I put them away for you. I'm sure it would please her to see how beautiful you are in that one."

"Then you can help me change into it. After you've shown me the others and I've had a bath."

"As you wish, Kagome-sama." It was just as easy to crawl to the trunk to open it, so that's what he did. "I packed the kimono as full outfits, but of course if you choose to match them differently that is your right." He explained as he pulled them out one at a time, listening with pleasure to her words of approval and admiration.

"But I won't be able to wear any of these for normal use – I wouldn't dare."

"Why not?" If they pleased her and showed her beauty wasn't that all that mattered?

"What if I spilled something on them, or tore them or something?"

"Kagome-sama, one of the obscure spells I learned while I was Taiyoukai in name only – well, it was obscure at the time anyway – worked to repair minor damage in clothes perfectly. It's fairly well-known now, and it gets used by almost all body slaves, but back then I was one of the only youkai who knew that spell. I used it to keep my white silks spotless."

"Oh, thank you. But they still aren't appropriate for normal wear." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Would you like to wash me?"

"Please Kagome-sama." Sess followed her to the bathroom and served her as she directed. Then once they'd returned to her bedroom he dressed her in the kimono he'd set up on display, to show Minako-dono.

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End file.
